The statement orders all online games in the region to not provide online services to minors during other hours, even on a guest account. Those refusing to comply with these rules and regulations will be dealt with in an official capacity, according to the original statement.

This comes after China imposed certain restrictions on online gaming in 2019, which prohibited minors from logging on to online games after 10pm. Many video game companies seem to be fed up with this increased strictness, and giants such as Tencent and NetEase have been continually looking out for partnerships and opportunities to create products with a global demand.

According to the leaker, a new free-to-play test will go live next month – following which PUBG Corp. will track responses and act accordingly. The leaker also revealed that the developer had plans of going the free-to-play route earlier in 2019 with a similar test, but didn’t get the responses it required.

Going the free-to-play route makes total sense, since most of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds‘ competitors – Fortnite, Apex Legends, Warzone and countless others are all free to play. However, interest for the game seems to be waning out now – so it’d be interesting to see if it actually goes free to play or remains a paid affair. That’s of course, considering the leak is indeed true.

https://twitter.com/PlayerIGN/status/1418897430859460613

Another weekend, another game that’s free to play on PC via Steam. This time, it’s PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, the breakout battle royale title of 2017. Though the game has lost some of its luster since launch, it’s still receiving regular updates including a recent revamp of Vikendi.

The free weekend is currently live and ends on June 8th at 10 AM PT. Players can access all of the available maps and modes. They can even group with current owners of the game. The in-game store won’t be available during this period however.

If you’re keen on picking up PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, then it’ll be discounted for the duration of the free weekend. Save data from the free weekend will carry over into the full game so you can keep your progress. The game is out for Xbox One, PS4, PC, Android, iOS and recently made its debut on Google Stadia (while being free for Stadia Pro users).

One of the other leaked announcements for yesterday’s Stadia Connect was PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. PUBG Corporation confirmed in the presentation that the breakout battle royale title was now available on Stadia but there’s more. If you have Stadia Pro, you get the Pioneer Edition for free.

This includes the base game and the Cold Front Survivor Pass. You also receive a Stadia Exclusive skin set. There’s also the Chicken Dinner Edition which is available until July 20th for $90 but Stadia Pro subscribers can upgrade to it for $35 until May 26th. This includes the Pioneer Edition’s content along with 6,000 G-Coins and several cosmetic sets.

Cross-platform play and parties have also been enabled, which is a nice bonus. With Season 7 of the battle royale title launching and providing a revamped Vikendi map, there’s quite a bit to look forward to. Stadia Pro is currently free for everyone until June so it might be worth looking into.

Sony’s streaming service PlayStation Now continues to grow in terms of its games line-up. Last month saw Persona 5, Hollow Knight and Middle-Earth: Shadow of War join the roster – this month is about PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood and F1 2019. All three games are currently available for streaming.

The PlayStation Blog also revealed the top most played games on PlayStation Now in November. Unsurprisingly, Grand Theft Auto 5 and God of War lead the pack, followed by Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Middle-Earth: Shadow of War and Rocket League. What is noteworthy is that three of the top five games will only be available on the service till January 2nd 2020.

For the most part, it seems that Sony’s strategy is paying off. PlayStation Now boasts one million subscribers as of October 30th and currently offers over 800 games on PS2, PS3 and PS4. Subscriptions cost $9.99 per month or $59.99 per year with a free seven day trial available for PC and PS4.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, a title that caused the battle royale boom that’s still relevant today, has been doing fairly well for itself lately. After numerous issues before and after launch, PUBG Corp has settled into a groove with its seasonal cycle. Season 4 started recently with a remaster of Erangel among other new features.

But whatever happened to the team’s weekly update cycle? Speaking to PCGamesN, studio director Brian Corrigan talked about how the development team initially aimed for the same before settling into something more stable. “Last fall—and I said this before, publicly—but we were trying for this weekly update cadence. And it was one of those things where a bunch of us were like, look, we want to improve things as fast as possible. There’s some stuff that drives us crazy as players, and who’s going to fix it? Us! We’re the developers, we’ve got to go fix it, just because we ourselves want to play the fixed version.

“So we tried to crank out these patches on a weekly cycle last year, and it just really didn’t work out. If you’ve been on this side of game development before, that’s a pretty hard pace to keep to. So we slowed it down a little this year, and we’ve been doing smaller patches every month, and a bigger season schedule.”

As such, both titles fulfill different purposes in today’s market. Corrigan notes that, “We have a more high-intensity competitive game, we’ve got a functional esports program that we’re putting a lot of time into right now.” PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds earned $310 million in revenue last year so it’s clearly catering to its audience.

Corrigan isn’t above taking aspects from other games that could work for his studio’s title. At the end day though, PUBG’s formula is “unique.” “If there’s pieces [of Fortnite] that work for us, that’s great, because we should learn from the best teachers across a lot of different games, but our formula is unique. That’s something we understand, and we have to always remember: this PUBG formula is unique, there really is nothing else out there like it.”

The development team is working on improving its communication with players. Corrigan believes the change is already visible. “Hopefully people are seeing us do a bit of a better job on that—this year we’ve started to do more detailed patch notes, we started to have these dev letters coming out. Some of us, including me, are trying to do more community podcasts and interviews, things like that, and just, you know, tell people, ‘We’re human, and we care about the game as much as you’.”

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is currently available for Xbox One, PS4, PC, iOS, and Android.

Last year was interesting for PUBG Corp, the team working on PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. According to its latest financial reports, it garnered $920 million in revenue, $310 million of which was profit. The split is even more interesting, with PC garnering $790 million in revenue while mobile accounted for $65 million, and consoles making up $60 million.

In terms of revenue, Asia made up 53 percent of the split. Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad further added on Twitter, “That the reason that mobile revenue is low here is because Tencent obtained the license to develop and publish the mobile version.” Considering the Xbox One version received a fair amount of hype and has been a success for Microsoft, it’s interesting seeing the mobile version outpacing consoles in terms of revenue.

The other interesting bit is the gap between revenue and profit, which seems to indicate $610 million was spent. However, this figure almost certainly accounts for partner fees, platform licensing fees, esports prize pools, marketing, and development for multiple versions. Either way you look at it, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is still insanely popular despite the continued frenzy over Fortnite Battle Royale and rise of Apex Legends. Time will tell what this year has in store.

Note that the reason that mobile revenue is low here is because Tencent obtained the license to develop and publish the mobile version.

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) April 19, 2019

I assume $300m is also from platform/partner fees maybe?

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) April 19, 2019

Brendan Greene a.k.a. “PlayerUnknown”, one of the pioneer designers of the battle royale genre and creator of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, seems to be done with it. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Greene detailed that he’s stepping away from the main game of PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds, one of the first battle royale titles released on the market, even before the current king of the mountain, Fortnite, had a mode for battle royale.

Greene has moved on to the PUBG Corp’s Special Projects division to work on projects they aren’t ready to talk about yet, but promise are “exploring, experimenting, and creating new technologies, tools, pipelines, and gameplay.”

“I have lots of other ideas in my head for games I would like to play and we’re going to see if other people would like to play them too,” Greene said about his new team and the work he’s doing with them. “That’s where we’re at. We haven’t really started anything yet because we’re team building.”

While the details aren’t ready for the public, Green says he does not intend to make PUBG 2.

He instead wants to make games that connect people through experiences. “The last man standing concept is great, but I’ve done that. I don’t really intend to make PUBG 2. I’ve done battle royale, it’s time to try something else. There are ideas about how we connect to people and how we provide the different experiences I have.”

“I’ve done the killing thing,” he added. “It’s fun. I think I’ve provided others with a good way of killing each other. But I want to explore some other things.”

While he is seemingly done with the genre, Greene holds no ill-will or distaste for it and actively wants the current team to continue making PUBG the best it can be. In fact, he hopes to even see Battle Royale e-sports soon.

“I want to see battle royale esports,” he said. “I think the team we have are doing a good job — it takes a long time to create a successful esport. It doesn’t happen overnight, especially the systems and procedures you need to run. I don’t care who does it — I’d love it to be us, I think it will be us — but that’s my dream.

“I’d also like to see battle royale stabilise, and see more people making their own battle royales out of pleasure rather than just trying to make a quick buck. Apex Legends did an amazing job, they didn’t hype anything, they just announced and delivered a great game. It’s hard to enter the space right now. I don’t envy the developer teams with that task.”

With the ever growing popularity of the genre and new games adapting the model (and doing so very successfully at that), he’ll probably get his wish, even if it means he won’t be part of it.

Do keep in mind, that though it’s natural to assume that when we talk about big game maps, we might be talking about open world games only- but that’s not the case. Whether its an open world game, or an open ended game that’s not particularly open world, or a huge map that we’ve seen in multiplayer play- it’s all fair game for this list. Also, do keep in mind that randomly generated maps were not considered for this feature.

A final note before we begin- there’s every possibility that we might have missed out on some game you were expecting to see on this list, and if we did, it’s either because the exact sizes of their maps aren’t known to us, or because we simply forgot! If it’s the former, and you know what the sizes are, please tell us! If it’s the latter, please remind us.

So without further ado, let’s jump into it.

#50. ASSASSIN’S CREED UNITY

The open world action by developers Ubisoft has its fair share of issues, sure, but its world is one aspect that can’t be faulted. It’s a joy to explore, and it’s also pretty big. At about 2.4 km2, there’s more than enough space in this virtual world to explore and lose yourself in.

"Titanfall was fun – barring complaints about its lack of content and the oppressive Smart Pistol – but its skill ceiling could feel way too high at times."

Picture this: Instead of Titanfall 3, Respawn Entertainment decided to develop a battle royale title. The game initially had Titans and wall-running but it was decided that this would impede the learning aspect. As lead producer Drew McCoy explained to PC Gamer, “A lot of the stuff [from Titanfall] that was brought over was brought over purposefully. Our goals are really to make a masterable, learnable, deep game with a lot of strategy. When we first started making it, to be completely honest, we had double-jumping and wall running. We had triple-jumping for awhile. We had Titans in tons of different forms.

“For us, we don’t restrict ourselves when we’re early on in a project about what ‘has’ to be there. So even though we were like, yeah, this is probably going to be the Titanfall universe, we didn’t put any hard requirements on what had to be there. While prototyping and playing and iterating, things stay or they go as a result of whether or not they’re achieving our goals. Things like wall running and double-jumping, they actually really hurt the strategic and learnable aspects of combat. Because a player can get anywhere almost immediately. So there’s no thought process like ‘okay, I saw someone run around that building, now I know they’re going to be in one of two places.’ No—with double-jumping and wall running, they can be anywhere.”

The same process was applied to having squads with just three players despite how chaotically fun larger squads could be. “You didn’t feel like you learned anything after a fight. It just felt like what happened happened, and let’s move on.”

Which sounds reasonable enough. Titanfall was fun – barring complaints about its lack of content and the oppressive Smart Pistol – but its skill ceiling could feel way too high at times. Titanfall 2 attempted to slow things down, turning some abilities into perks, expanding the weapons pool, bringing out numerous balance patches and removing the Smart Pistol as a regular weapon. Even several of the maps presented more MOBA-esque, three-lane structures that were meant to be simpler to understand (don’t look at me like that, you know its true). However, despite the plentiful cosmetics, free content and other support, Titanfall 2 still didn’t crack the mainstream competitive FPS genre. Sure, you can still find some matches to get into but the population isn’t exactly bustling.

"Apex Legends, for all intents and purposes, is a Titanfall game."

Enter Apex Legends, a game that Electronic Arts wasn’t sure about and which Respawn risked a lot to create. While the success is well-earned for the developer, which has had a rough history with its founders being kicked out of Infinity Ward and engaged in a long lawsuit, it’s understandable that some fans would lambaste Apex Legends for catering to the lowest common denominator. Some believe that it isn’t a real Titanfall game because of both the removal of Titans and the overall lack of wall-running or slide-hopping.

Apex Legends, for all intents and purposes, is a Titanfall game. It imbibes the same attitude that Titanfall 2 brought forth with its factions but boils them down into different heroes aka Legends. It takes the perks that defined the multiplayer in previous games and adds a few new ones, allowing for more tactical combat options as opposed to game-changing ultimates and abilities. It emphasizes squad-play but still empowers you to become a strong carry for the team. In short, the gameplay is great. Why is that though?

Because Apex Legends still maintains two of the core aspects that made Titanfall so fun – gunplay and movement. If you’re like me and tried other games like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite: Battle Royale, the gunplay may have felt less than ideal. The former emphasizes realism while the latter is more about the mastery of building. Fortnite: Battle Royale mixes the arcadey with the realistic and has seemingly made its bed as more of the former. More importantly the snappiness of the gunplay feels lacking.

Apex Legends is different. Each gun feels great, whether it’s the response of the R301-Carbine, the meatier fire of the Flatline, the fast-firing Sidewinder or the automatic EVA-8 Shotgun. Snapping on to a target feels just right and not at all janky. The transition between moving and sliding to shooting is also quick and very satisfying, to say nothing of the time-to-kill (which admittedly takes a bit of getting used to after Titanfall 2).

"The game will tell you if a new attachment is better than the currently equipped one and won’t immediately attach it if it’s not."

Granted, Blackout in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 does have its own degree of snappiness. But Apex Legends outdoes it with its second core aspect – the movement. For all the complaining of no wall-running, Apex Legends still feels likethe pilot movement of Titanfall. The sprinting is fast and fluid; vaulting and climbing up objects has a bit more heft but still feels just right. Even the martial arts kick to the face is faithful (though it’s not a one-hit kill). The addition of sprinting faster with weapons holstered and faster speeds when sliding down hills – coupled with the environment being very slope-heavy – makes the pace that much better. Who knew it wasn’t all about just wall-running and double-jumping in a Titanfall game? This isn’t to say that the movement in Blackout is terrible but in the context of such a large map, it can get tedious. There have also been issues with vaulting and entering broken windows before numerous patches.

Further augmenting the sense of fluidity and fast gunplay is the streamlined interface. When looting in Apex Legends, you can pick up weapons, different attachments, items like a Knockdown Shield (which shields you from incoming fire when downed but not from Executions), Shield Cells for recharging armour and Backpacks for more inventory space. Items and attachments have different rarities but you don’t need to immediately compare and contrast them what you currently have.

The game will tell you if a new attachment is better than the currently equipped one and won’t immediately attach it if it’s not. Same goes for body armour, helmets, Backpacks and so on. If you don’t have weapons that can support anything currently equipped, then the game will tell you. This distinction of picking something up immediately if it’s beneficial versus holding down the pick-up button to keep it stored is what keeps the pace fast-moving. Being able to move, albeit slower, while using Shield Cells and Syringes is similarly a nice touch.

Another distinct feature is the ability to revive teammates, even when they’re dead. If you retrieve their banners on death within roughly 90 seconds – which can sometimes be a tough task if your squadmate dies somewhere far away – then you can head to a respawn station and revive them. The process takes some time, from using the station to waiting for them to actually drop in, but it adds a nice risk/reward mechanic to the gameplay. The same applies to the need for Executions – if an enemy has a Knockdown Shield, it could take some time to kill them. Executions do the job in just a few seconds. Take the risk and you’ll save time and ammunition. Be wary though because Executions can be interrupted.

"Despite not really spending a lot of time with any battle royale games in the past few years, everything in Apex Legends just clicks."

I haven’t played too much of Apex Legends since it launched. What I have experienced has been very fun though. Despite not really spending a lot of time with any battle royale games in the past few years, everything in Apex Legends just clicks. It’s the combination of high-octane gameplay, a unique and fun map design, streamlined processes and excellent controls that really does it. Even if it’s a free-to-play model, I feel like the time invested is in line with the XP earned. The longer you survive, the more XP gained but get a little gutsy and take down a marked Champion for even more XP. Being aggressive is key but knowing when to back off is also important.

The real question now is whether Apex Legends will be worth sticking with in the long term. Having tons of cosmetics that can be unlocked is great. Right off the bat you have weapon skins, Legend skins, Execution animations, banners and so on. A Battle Pass is coming with both free and paid items to unlock in March – there will be over 100 exclusive items included. However – and this carries forward some of the complaints from past Titanfall games – Respawn needs to keep the updates coming fast. Weapon balance changes, map changes, new limited time modes (I, for one, hope that Attrition returns as a limited time mode with respawns), new Legends, new maps, replays – there’s a wealth of features that Apex Legends still needs. That’s not including some optimization for lag and performance, though the game ran incredibly well on my admittedly above average system.

Blackout, by comparison, does receive constant support for its various issues. However, it’s also been lagging behind in features like map expansion. Fortnite: Battle Royale is patched on a weekly basis to much praise and even if PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is still lackluster compared to both, it continues to receive support and has a good amount of content already available. This is not a case of Respawn needing to pick up the pace – it needs to keep a consistently strong pace and deliver accordingly.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds servers as a pretty decent warning as to why. When it entered Steam Early Access, it got real big, real fast but the development team simply couldn’t keep pace in terms of improvements, optimization, content and support. As soon as a competent competitor (read: Fortnite) rolled around, PUBG started to fade further into the background. It’s still very popular, especially in the mobile market, but considering how big Fortnite has become, you can’t help but wonder what could have been.

"If the developer’s plan was to get ahead of the rumoured free-to-play roll-out of Blackout, it’s been more than successful."

At this point, given the fast-paced nature of the gameplay, Apex Legends‘ main competition will be Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Blackout. If the developer’s plan was to get ahead of the rumoured free-to-play roll-out of Blackout, it’s been more than successful. It also doesn’t hurt that the gameplay is fun and addictive with an arguably better designed map that features plenty of callbacks to previous Titanfall maps.

I may be singing the praises of Apex Legends but keep in mind that it just came out. Subsequent sandbox changes may ruin the experience. Performance could suffer over time. There might not be any noteworthy content updates in the coming months, even in the Battle Pass. There are hundreds of things that could sour the player base and plenty of competition that will step up, just like Respawn stepped up in this case. That’s the gamble with live service titles and Apex Legends is no exception. If the gunplay and movement can stay as fun as they are now, then I can see players returning for more.

If you’re one of the skeptical few who thinks that this game is simply meant to cash in on a popular genre, I understand how you feel. You could criticize the monetization model or how Respawn released it out of the blue to avoid any early scrutiny. Some of the skins costing $18 is also something that I could see players having an issue with. However, in its current state, the unlock system comes across as fair. You’re not given tons of credits or crafting materials quickly but they’re doled out as a decent enough pace. The loot boxes are also pretty decent, especially since Respawn has been up-front about its drop rates and promising at least one Rare item per box. There are also no duplicates to be had. Grinding for additional Legends may be annoying but it’s not looking impossible, unlike with the initial plan for Star Wars Battlefront 2. And besides, there’s already an incredibly strong roster to utilize from the phase shifting Wraith to the healing Lifeline.

How well Respawn can keep the player base invested is still unknown. It’s good to see the studio rewarded for its hard work and thrust into the spotlight after so many years on the periphery. But the pressure only mounts from here and time will tell if the developer can continue its strong momentum or fizzle out like so many competitors. In the meantime, we have yet another battle royale title and it’s free. Celebrate accordingly.