Though massively popular battle royale shooter PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds isn’t getting a dedicated next-gen release yet, the game will be playable on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S when the two consoles become available thanks to backward compatibility. In a recent update, the game’s developers confirmed what enhancements players can expect to see on next-gen hardware as a result.

On both PS5 and Xbox Series X, PUBG will run at 60 FPS with the Framerate Priority option selected. These versions are based on the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X builds of the game respectively, which are getting the Framerate Priority option added in the October update.

Meanwhile, on the Xbox Series S, PUBG will continue to run at 30 FPS, based on the base Xbox One build of the game. The developers say that an option to raise the framerate cap on the base Xbox One and the Xbox Series S will be added later on, but no specific window is provided for that.

The developers also say that on next-gen consoles, PUBG’s perforance is “extremely smooth and stable” and has “little to no frame drops”, while also benefitting from faster loading.

PUBG is currently available on PC, Xbox One, PC, iOS, Android, and Stadia. It will be available via backward compatibility for Xbox Series X/S on November 10, and for PS5 on November 12.

At least once every generation, there is one game that introduces a defining feature that will effectively influence the way the industry going forward. There were a few games this generation to do that, but probably one of the first was PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds). The game was the first fully fleshed out battle royale shooter we saw, a new system that’s been adapted by so many other developers at this point, it’s staggering. And well, one of the first and now the best selling.

As reported by GamesIndustry, the game has now surpassed 70 millions units sold. This will also make it the best selling game that launched this generation (while sales-wise it’s been surpassed this gen by Grand Theft Auto 5, that game launched last gen). It is worth nothing here that the game is available on Xbox Game Pass and was a giveaway for those who signed up for Google Stadia Pro. It’s unclear if those numbers are in any way factored in here, but even if they are, we’re still looking at incredible numbers.

The game originally launched on PC, and then slowly made its way to consoles with the Xbox One and then PS4, until eventually getting mobile counterparts. It’s most recently been available on Google Stadia, and remains available via all of those platforms now.

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.

The original battle royale shooter, PUBG, has enjoyed a long life span, as well as continued updates. The focus has always been on that original battle royale, though. And while undoubtedly that will continue to be the game’s main draw, it does seem like the developer is looking to try some new things, starting with an old classic mode.

Earlier, the PUBG test client got an update (6.2) that adds Arcade. The new section will actually cycle out a variety of new modes for you to play and try out. As of now, they haven’t announced what all of these modes will be, but the first one out is as old school as old school gets: Team Deathmatch. However, it does have a twist. You will have a boost gauge, a bar that fills up by getting kills and assists, and goes down whenever you take damage. The boost gauge is required to be filled to regenerate health, meaning you have to stay active to some degree when playing the game.

PUBG‘s Team Deathmatch mode is live on PC in test servers now and will go live for everyone next week. It will eventually come to consoles at some point after that.

The original battle royale shooter, PUBG, may not quite have the same kind of mindshare as Fortnite (or at least it seems), but the game still has a strong userbase and gets regular updates. Today it got a new update, and while it may not change a whole lot of the core experience it does get an extra dose of the red stuff.

The latest update, 5.3, will bring blood, lots of blood. So much blood you won’t believe it. The new blood splatter system makes it where shooting an enemies head and neck will result in an effect of blood splashing, red spots where parts of the body have been shot, and blood will even splatter on walls and floors. That means the matches will have plenty of the red stuff. You can also upload your games setting and you’ll no longer get locked crates when using BP. But you know, there’s also a lot of blood. You can read the full patch notes through here.

PUBG is available now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and mobile devices. The 5.3 update will go live next week on PC, with console and mobile versions to come shortly afterward.

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.

While Fortnite tends to get all the battle royale cred, there was a shooter before it that helped define the genre in PlayerUnknown’s Battleground (or PUBG as it’s mostly referred to). The game still has a sizeable audience as well, and now it joins the ranks of some prestigious other titles with console cross-play.

As announced via the official Twitter, the newest update for the game is live now. But 4.3 isn’t just your normal, run of the mill patch. It will add cross-play between the PS4 and Xbox One alongside some other more minor updates.

While cross-play has become a much more common thing over the last few years, there’s still a relative few games that have cross-play between Sony’s console and the other two on the market. With games like PUBG that barrier is starting to crack somewhat, though there’s still a good ways to go before we see it become a standard.

Console Players: Update 4.3 is now available on live servers!

This update also brings Cross Platform Play, allowing PlayStation and Xbox players to be entered into the same matchmaking pool, as well as Survival Mastery, the DBS, and more!

Patch notes: https://t.co/b6ckwGof3d pic.twitter.com/aYXmnU0NGr

— PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS Europe (@PUBG_EU) October 1, 2019

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is best known, of course, for its battle royale mode, which almost pioneered the genre (though Fortnite has definitely stolen the spotlight in recent months). That said, PUBG has more to offer as well. More specifically, PC players have been enjoying the game’s War Mode for some time now.

At Microsoft’s E3 press event earlier today, it was announced that the game’s Xbox One version will also be updated with the War Mode some time in Winter of 2018- though a more specific release timing for the content in question wasn’t mentioned. Meanwhile, it was also announced that the third PUBG map, called Sanhok, is going to be out this Summer (again, a more specific release date wasn’t mentioned).

All this was, of course, announced via a new trailer, which also showed as bunch of gameplay footage- though for a game that’s been out for months (or over a year, if you’re a PC player), that shouldn’t really matter that much. Take a look anyway.

A new patch for the Xbox One version of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is currently being put through the paces on test servers over at Bluehole, and it introduces several major new upgrades which, if the test does well, will be incorporated into the game as well.

The test version of the patch, which also includes the new maps of the game – Erangel and Miramar – introduces changes big and small. Firstly, the most obvious bit, which is that several bugs are being fixed. Importantly though, the patch in its test phase also brings with it graphical improvements and a few notable additions, such as a new colourblindness setting, and new crosshair settings.

There are also several other new improvements in the patch, such as expanding the FoV of all scopes in the game, improvements made to the UI, the addition of emotes, the addition of a new animation and effects for grenade hits, and some quality of life improvements.

You can view the full notes for the test version of the patch below.

PATCH CHANGES:

Settings menu changes:

• Game settings are now grouped up by category.
• Colorblind settings have been added
• Crosshair settings have been added
• Added a new slider interface
• Added an option to adjust strength of game controller vibration.
• Added an option to set deadzone for the left analog stick.
• Aim acceleration can now be completely disabled if set to 0.
  • Those of you who previously set it to “0” may want to set it to “1” to preserve the feel from previous patches.
• The game controller function guide has been updated.

Scopes have been changed to be more realistic:

• Expanded all scopes’ field of view
• Added a parallax effect when moving weapons quickly
• Added vignetting (darker edges), chromatic aberration (color difference caused by light refraction), and a distortion effect on the edge of scopes

Out-of-game menus and UX improvements:

• The “cancel matchmaking” UI has been improved. You can now cancel matchmaking by holding the X button on any screen except the SETTINGS menu
• We improved the UI that indicates that matchmaking is in progress. Progress time is now displayed. When a match is found, a countdown will appear
• Transition speed between menus has been increased
• Two new menu items have been added: CUSTOMIZATION and STORE.
  • To get a box, go to STORE > CRATES
  • To open the box you’ve received, go to MY ITEMS in STORE
  • On test servers, the number of boxes that can be purchased per week has been increased significantly (up to 100)
• After launching the game, a single, simplified loading screen pops up before the lobby appears (instead of many different screens)

A few more miscellaneous changes:

• Emotes have been added. Emote UI will show up if you press the LB+RB buttons at the same time. Choose an emote with the right analog stick and press down with the R stick to use the selected emote.
• We added some contextual on-screen popups that explain button functions.
• Added new grenade hit effects and animations
• We’ve removed the grenade’s knockback effect for player characters when dealing non-lethal damage (if players are killed by a grenade, they’ll still be knocked back)

Bug fixes

• There was a bug causing players to sometimes get stuck in a leaning position (caused by going prone while leaning). This is now fixed.
• Fixed an issue causing punching to slow down movement while sprinting
• Player can no longer see through walls by going prone near houses with stone steps in Miramar
• In spectator mode, water sounds sometimes inappropriately continued after changing perspective. This has now been fixed
• When preparing to throw grenades, the projection visualization no longer inappropriately penetrates through objects

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is going to be receiving a new map on the PC soon, but while there’s some time to go yet before it’s made available to everyone at large, the testing phase for it is about to begin imminently.

PUBG’s official Twitter page recently put up an update that states that access keys for testing of the map will be given out starting Monday (that is, tomorrow), and will be “a large number of keys available directly from us”. These keys will be distributed through their official website.

The upcoming map, currently codenamed “Savage”, will be a 4×4 km playing ground. The upcoming test, as per PUBG’s official Twitter page, will be held for a “limited time”, though they haven’t given concrete details on what exactly that time frame is. There’s also the question if there’s going to be a similar test for the game’s Xbox One version as well. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more info.

We will open up our website for distributing access keys on Monday before the test begins. There will be a large number of keys available directly from us. The only requirement to get one will be ownership of PUBG on Steam. https://t.co/OyC8pWcwg3

— PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS (@PUBG) March 31, 2018