After months of being in Early Access, Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) is finally joining the big guys in the market, with yet another major achievement to celebrate.
On December 21, the hugely-popular title was officially launched on PC to both the delight and frustration of players. The rocky servers served as a major point of contention for many, but the outrage quickly fizzled away upon the free gift of an in-game Winner Winner Chicken Dinner t-shirt, following a long-hour server maintenance that took the game offline.
With the release of Version 1.0 comes many new mechanics and game improvements. While there’s no denying that PUBG has managed to capture the hearts of many FPS players, it’s also known for its notorious stability issues and intermittent server connection. Fortunately, this recent patch has managed to improve upon these problems, with developer Bluehole promising “progressive improvements” in the near future, as well as stronger cheat prevention measures.
Regular players would know that the climbing and vaulting are now part of the character’s move set, which allows for greater mobility and flexibility. That’d be important in the barren, sandy environment of Miramar – the new desert map also launched with 1.0 – where they can try their hands at new obstacles, weapons, and vehicles. Driving up a steep grass slope on a buggy just doesn’t cut it anymore.
But most importantly, players can finally know how they came to meet their demise through the newly-implemented kill-cam, alongside an instant replay, both of which should have been introduced a long time ago.
PUBG took the gaming world by storm when it was first released in Early Access, and it seems that the momentum is not stopping anytime soon, especially with all these newly-announced features. In fact, the game’s figures speak volumes of its overwhelming popularity: in the 11 months it has taken for Blizzard to hit 30 million players with Overwatch, the battle royale game has done so in approximately nine months across both PC and Xbox One.
For a title without the backing of a major publisher, this definitely calls for an impressive feat. Not only is Microsoft bundling PUBG with the Xbox One for a limited time, two mobile games are also in the works for China.
If you have not jumped onto the PUBG bandwagon, now is a good time to serve up those chicken dinners!
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Ryan Michael Chin
Edwin Teo
