'PUBG' Finally Going Free-To-Play, According To Insider

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, one of the most successful battle royales out there, is going to go free-to-play very soon to trial whether the game should adopt the approach permanently.

The game originally released four years ago and had held its ground as newer, shinier games in the same genre tried to take its throne. Admittedly, it isn't as popular as Fortnite, Warzone or Apex Legends, yet PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is still here, like a grizzled soldier who needs no respect from these ankle-biters. Be that as it may, it might be time for this old dog to learn a few new tricks. Fortnite, Warzone and Apex Legends are all free-to-play and earn their respective companies cheddar through their battle passes and cosmetics. None of these in-game items offer an advantage to those players who shell out, but shell out they do.

Watch our compilation of the most mind-bending fails in Warzone right here. Remember, you're not laughing at these players, you're laughing near them.

PlayerIGN, a notable insider when it comes to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, has taken to Twitter to reveal that PUBG Corporation and Krafton are intending to experiment with the game's formula. Apparently, the developers are not dissuaded from the results of the original free-to-play test that was held in 2019. They're going to give it another go with a free-to-play week in August, but the dates have not been communicated or settled upon at the moment.

Assumedly, if this week is received positively by players and by the big cheeses at PUBG Corporation and Krafton, it provides an argument for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds to be free-to-play forever. Nevertheless, players are expressing anxieties over the shift. "I understand why they would want this but then they really need a lot more admins on the report system (or a better working anticheat)!" said lauraa, a streamer who focuses on the battle royale. "Right now when you report someone it already takes days before they're banned (permanently)!"

These claims do intrigue me, given that PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds 2 is allegedly in the works. This leak also arises from PlayerIGN and it's possible that PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds may be free whereas the sequel would be premium. It would, however, benefit from cross-play in the way that Overwatch and Overwatch 2 plans to. We'll let you know when we hear more.

Topics: News, Steam, PC, Battle Royale