Journalist Imran Khan of Fanbyte recently took to Twitter and stated that he’s been “hearing a decent bit of chatter this week” that suggests Warner Bros. is looking to sell its game development studios to potential suitors in the industry, with EA, Take-Two, Microsoft, Sony, Tencent, NetEase, and PUBG Corp. being among the “interested parties”. Interestingly, while previous reports had suggested that only the studios would be sold off, Khan says that WB is now looking to sell licenses of its IPs as well.

WB Games owns a number of major studios, including TT Games (the developer of the LEGO games), Rocksteady (currently working on Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League), WB Games Montreal (developing Gotham Knights), Avalanche Software (developing Hogwarts Legacy), Monolith Productions (developing Wonder Woman), and NetherRealm Studios (rumoured to be working on Mortal Kombat 12).

Interestingly, even back in 2020, predating the Warner and Discovery merger, it was reported that WB’s parent company AT&T was looking to shop its studios around, and many of the names of the interested parties mentioned above were mentioned back then as well. Not long afterward, reports claimed that the company ultimately decided against any sales.

In July, Warner Bros. provided assurances that contrary to report, NetherRealm Studios and TT Games weren’t for sale, while earlier this year, it was reported that WB Games was looking to bolster its output of DC-licensed games.

Interested parties include EA, Take-Two, Microsoft, Sony, Tencent, Netease, and PUBG Corp. WBD wants to sell studios and license IP, supposedly.

— Imran Khan (@imranzomg) April 29, 2022

In addition to this, other cosmetic items such as NieR-themed parachutes are also available as a part of 5 different bundles. The complete set will cost around 5450 G-Coins, which roughly translates to $50. Other bundles are slightly cheaper, with 2B Costume Set and 9S Costume Set coming at around 2080 and 1500 G-Coins respectively. Suffice to say, fans don’t seem exactly thrilled with this outrageous pricing model.

What makes this even worse is that these skins are a part of a limited-time event, and as such, they are only available for purchase until April 30th. Of course, these predatory monetization practices aren’t exactly a surprise considering that PUBG: Battlegrounds recently went free-to-play following multiple playtests for the same.

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

While Fortnite has become a pop cultural cornerstone, it wasn’t really the start of the battle royale genre as we know it. While it’s fair to say it popularized it, PUBG is really the first game that hit the mainstream to utilize the concept. While it didn’t get the cultural cache of Epic’s shooter, it did pretty well for itself. It’s even getting a spin-off, sort of, 300 years in its world’s future. Now, though, it seems a sequel of some kind is potentially in the works.

As originally reported by Korean news site MTN, and translated and transcribed by PlayerIGN on Twitter, which you can see below, the publisher is working on some type of follow up to the title. It is said to be for PC, consoles and mobile. There isn’t a lot of information outside that at this point.

It’s unclear what a sequel would look like, if it were to try something different or just be an upgraded and refined version of the game we know, a 2.0 update and refresh as opposed to a full PUBG 2. As of now the current game is available on most major consoles, PC and compatible iOS and Android devices. We’ll keep you updated for when more news comes.

https://twitter.com/PlayerIGN/status/1346753833691611136?s=20

2020 is ticking away, slowly but surely. It can be harsh at times to look at the calendar and see the months fading away. But at the very least it means that for all the subscription services you are part of there is always a fresh rollover happening. One of those, of course, is Sony’s PlayStation Plus and September has two games in two very different multiplayer genres for you to enjoy.

As announced via the official PlayStation blog, next month will see Capcom’s long running Street Fighter 5 being given away. The title has been ongoing since 2016. This will be the base game, though all of the additional modes have been given as free updates. The other is the original battle royale shooter PUBG. The game more or less invented an entire genre that is still going on today, and if you haven’t checked it out now is as good a time as any.

Street Fighter 5 and PUBG will be free for PS Plus subscribers on PS4 starting September 1st until October 5th. The current games are Fall Guys and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered, which you will be able to redeem until the end of this month.

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).

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

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, also known as PUBG, has finally hit the PS4 a full year after it released on PC and a few months after the launch of its Xbox One counterpart. This is already an established game, with personalities and gameplay meta that have sprung up all around the title. So even if you’ve never actually played this game, chances are you’ve played something similar that’s spun off from it or at the very least heard of the title.

The premise of PUBG is simple: you drop into a large open land mass along with ninety-nine other players, scavenge for supplies and weapons, then do your best to survive. You’ll be taking out the competition with a wide variety of weapons, hiding when needed, tending to your wounds, and hopefully making it all the way to the end where you’ll be rewarded with a chicken dinner.

"Weapon handling is done in a realistic way, with you having to accomodate for recoil and bullet drop."

The landscapes you’re thrown into are absolutely massive and diverse, with some providing vegetation and others giving you a more urban environment to hide in. You’ll be able to find vehicles around as well in order to make your way around these maps quicker. Although, with the noise vehicles make, you may just end up making yourself a target for everyone within earshot. There’s also the ever-present threat of a rapidly shrinking out-of-bounds ring that will eventually kill you if you aren’t where you’re supposed to be. And if that doesn’t do you in, there’s also random bombing runs that you can find yourself caught in if you’re not careful. All in all, the world of PUBG is an obstacle to be overcome just as much as the other players are.

The game is easy for players to just jump into. There’s a tutorial server where you can go to learn the basics. Here, you can try out all the different weapons and practice lobbing grenades, riding vehicles, or parachuting to specific spots. The mechanics and controls of this game are pretty easy to wrap your head around after enough time. You can move about, sneaking or crawling when you need to, and can play the game with either a third-person or a first-person perspective. Along with jumping and melee strikes, you’re given all the tools you would need to survive in a life-or-death situation.

Although not all the controls are ideal. In order to aim down sights, you have to press the left trigger twice quickly. It’s not much, but sometimes this additional button press for such an essential function can end up getting you killed. You also have a menu system for picking up loot you find as well as using health- and energy-boosting supplies. This menu system is initially awkward to use. You get used to it eventually but there are some design choices, like the “X” button only picking up certain objects and the “Square” button picking up others, that never feels quite streamlined enough. It’s very obvious this is a system that originated on PC and that the PS4 had to make some compromises in order to fit PUBG’s control scheme.

Weapon handling is done in a realistic way, with you having to accomodate for recoil and bullet drop. There’s even options to zero out rifles you use, which should tip you off to the kind of long-range engagements you’ll primarily be going for in this title. Compared to something like Fortnite, this title is more methodical and requires more patience and setup for consistent play. All in all, this is a good thing since it gives PUBG its own identity and can also cater to players who like Fortnite’s battle royale concept but would rather have more gun mechanics instead of building.

"The moment-to-moment gameplay is the real selling point of PUBG."

And good news for those folks because PUBG is fun. You can go through this game on your own or with groups and there’s trade-offs for each method of play. Solo play means you only have yourself to rely on. But you don’t have to share any loot you find and you have a better chance of catching players off guard. Whereas with a group, there’s strength in numbers. But you have to only take a small portion of weapons you find and there’s a definite possibility of meeting a whole stack of enemies at a time. There’s also the option to play solo against other groups if you’re feeling particularly hardcore. The moment-to-moment gameplay is the real selling point of PUBG. You’ll spend a lot of your time running across fields and going through identical-looking houses but it all feels like it’s building towards something. Then once you finally find someone and wait for your perfect moment to strike, all that preparation before feels worth it.

Technically though, this game is rough. Those who are in the know are aware how taxing this title is on a high-end PC. And you’ve probably also heard about the disastrous launch of PUBG on Xbox One. Thankfully, the Playstation version has been given a little more care even though the performance is still nothing to write home about. I did play this title on a PS4 Pro which helped with framerate and a bit of a higher resolution, but the game still struggled. Texture pop-in is a constant thing and is probably at its most noticeable as you’re loading into an area and parachuting down. Textures can often not load in properly or end up clipping through other geometry, creating a very jank look to the environments.

The game in general is not good-looking. Everything had to be scaled down to accommodate the PS4 and that ends up leaving players with a pretty bland title. Player models are fine but the environment you move around is pretty low-resolution, especially vistas that are far off in the distance. This ends up actually hurting the experience since it’s easy to spot players far off when the environment looks so washed-out and barren. Lighting is an issue with PUBG as well. While everything looks fine while you’re outside, walking into a house for the first time is like having the gamma on your screen suddenly turned all the way down. This gives players who are waiting inside a huge advantage and usually ends with them coming out on top. There are also issues trying to find objects on the ground to pick up.

"PUBG is a fun game. The feeling of skulking about, tailing a mark for a few minutes, and then finally making your move and taking their loot is a great sensation."

Objects constantly blend in with the environment, whether that be with the hundreds of discarded cans littering houses or with a log next to a campsite. When you see how taxing having a realistic-looking battle royale game is for consoles, you start to understand why Fortnite picked its art style.
I’ll mention briefly the system of progression in this title. After games, you get points for performing well and after enough time you can spend them to pick up a loot box. You can also just buy boxes with real money if you don’t want to wait for points to tally up. Inside these boxes lies a cosmetic item. When I opened up my box, I got blue jeans. For players who are hooked on this game, the grind to earn another chance at a shiny new item will be enough to keep them going. However, for more casual players, I can’t see this really incentivising them to play more. To be fair, some of the cosmetics look really nice. It’s a shame that these cosmetic items usually get covered by armor and helmets anyway though.

PUBG is a fun game. The feeling of skulking about, tailing a mark for a few minutes, and then finally making your move and taking their loot is a great sensation. The more realistic weapon handling also sets it apart from other battle royale titles and helps make kills feel impactful. But as fun as it is, it’s not a perfect game. In its current state, the game functions but sacrifices graphical fidelity and performance in order to fit on the console. There are many gameplay problems that stem as a direct result of this compromise as well. So while PUBG is a fun experience, PUBG on PS4 is going to be a mixed bag for most players.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds may have fallen way behind its direct competitor Fortnite as far as popularity and mindshare are concerned, but as it turns out, its free-to-play mobile variant is doing very well for itself. Apparntly, PUBG Mobile’s total playerbase is equal to that of Fortnite.

This was confirmed to The Verge, who’re reporting that PUBG Mobile has 200 million users across iOS and Android devices. Fortnite, as you might remember, hit 200 million total users worldwide late last month. The report also mentions that both PUBG Mobile and Fortnite have 30 million active players every day. What’s interesting is that the numbers tallied up for PUBG Mobile do not include its massive playerbase in China, which would likely push it far beyond Fortnite. 

It’s also worth noting that these figures are for PUBG Mobile only, and not for the game’s console and PC versions. It goes to show that as a free-to-play title, PUBG has quite the backbone, as far as going toe-to-toe with Fortnite is concerned. Back in August, it was reported that it had hit 100 million total downloads, so its growth is impressive to see as well.