The game that took the world by storm by pioneering the battle royale genre, PUBG Battlegrounds, is finally going free-to-play.
Revealed at The Game Awards, Battlegrounds for PC and consoles will be free-to-play starting January 12.
Free-to-play players will have what they call a basic account, with some limited functionalities.
However, players can upgrade their account to a Battlegrounds Plus, a one-time purchase that includes the following perks
- Survival Mastery XP +100% boost
- Career – Medal tab
- Ranked Mode
- Creating and playing a Custom Match
- Captain’s Camo Hat
- Captain’s Camo Mask
- Captain’s Camo Gloves
- Bonus 1300 G-COIN
Players who purchased PUBG Battlegrounds will get the PUBG Special Commemorative Pack, which includes a Battlegrounds Plus upgrade.
The restrictions with a free-to-play Battlegrounds and Battlegrounds Plus account is a way for the devs to limit cheaters. The team is investing in new anti-cheat, but the limits should prevent a flurry of free cheating accounts to bombard Ranked Mode.
More info on the details of this free-to-play transition can be found on the official site here.
PUBG has been a wild ride for Korean developers Krafton. They brought the battle royale gameplay into the mainstream consciousness after getting PlayerUnknown on the development team. Then Fortnite happened which made battle royale free-to-play. And now the OG PUBG is called PUBG Battlegrounds instead of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds after PlayerUnknown left the team. And PUBG is massively popular outside of PC and consoles too, there are two PUBG games on mobile today.
If you’ve been waiting this long for PUBG to go free-to-play, well, the wait is coming to a close. PUBG Battlegrounds will go F2P on January 12 available on PlayStation, PC (Steam), Xbox and Stadia.