PUBG leaks suggest it’s going free-to-play, and getting a zombie survival mode
COSTNOTFOUND
Battle royale pioneer Plunkbat could finally be joining every other battle royale game by going free-to-play, according to a new rumour. Playerunknown's Battlegrounds has so far avoided the route that Fortnite ran with until it had all the money in the world. But an upcoming and (currently unannounced) free week could test the waters for a full-on free-to-play switcheroo.
Gamesradar points to PlayerIGN, a reliable source of PUBG secrets (they called the recent update’s plane crashes three weeks ago) that succinctly states: “PUBG wants to go free-to-play. They’re going to track player responses in a F2P week that’s happening next month.”
The shadowy leaker also suggested that a previous free week was a similar test for a potential F2P do-over, but that the fan response to it wasn’t what was expected. There was a 'Lite' version of the game that was F2P, but it was canned earlier this year. Maybe they were making room?
For now, they’re still pumping out updates. Version 13.1 went live today, and included PlayerIGN’s predicted plane crashes, where the flight that delivers players to the battlefield could develop engine trouble. You can choose to leap out, or ride it all the way to the ground, taking 50% damage at the start of the round. It's exclusive to the most recent map that was added, Taego.
The update also contains hidden assets for a potential ‘zombie survival’ mode, which is a similarly secretive mode that’s been datamined for our eyes. Though it wasn’t discovered by PlayerIGN, they endorsed the leak.
I recently retried PUBG and discovered a game that feels lost in its past as an Arma mod. It felt oddly floaty and leaden at the same time, and I returned to Warzone, which felt way more responsive and enjoyable. It's still hugely popular, but it feels like it could use a shake-up.