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PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Is Heading to Mobile, At Least in China

You may eventually see the winning phrase “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner” on your phone screens – and definitely earlier for players in China.

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Publisher Tencent has announced that a PUBG mobile port is in the works, set to be launched first in China. It’s all pretty hush-hush, with neither a mention of the release date, or further information on plans to release the game outside of China.

Still, it might spell bigger plans for the wildly popular title, and expanding into China’s mobile market is probably a step in the right direction.

However, one can’t help but question the feasibility of this project – without a mouse and keyboard, gameplay would definitely be affected. Not to mention, the game can hardly run smoothly even on a mid-tier computer, so how that’d work out on phone is anyone’s guess.

Besides, China is notorious for bringing clones for the ride, and some PUBG ones have already spawned in the market, such as NetEase’s Terminator 2 (yes, what a name), and Bullet Strike Battlegrounds.

Tencent seems set to put those worries to rest, maintaining that development is making “very good process”, with the core elements remaining faithful to its PC counterpart. But would that truly be the case, especially with lowered graphics and phone-catered gameplay? The experience will be different, after all.

The shift to mobile follows news of PUBG’s upcoming venture into China’s PC community, in which content will be altered to fit in the country’s “social core values, Chinese traditional culture, and moral rules.” Word has it that exclusive content to China will be released as well.

For existing PUBG players, there’s the upcoming Desert Map to look forward to after the game exits Early Access later this year. Semi-abandoned houses, huge dunes of sand, and a massively open space – the wait can’t arrive soon enough.