PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds will be free to play next weekend on Steam and will be 50 percent off to purchase, the developer announced today.
PUBG is an online multiplayer battle royale game developed by PUBG Corporation, a segment of Bluehole. It’s based on previous mods created by Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene for other games, all inspired by the 2000 Japanese film named Battle Royale. The mods became so popular that they were expanded into a full game, with Greene himself as a part of the creative team.
Like in every battle royale, the last person standing wins. In PUBG, you play with a group of up to 100 players who parachute onto an island and scavenge for weapons and equipment to kill others while trying to avoid getting killed. The maps gets smaller with time, forcing players to face each other.
PUBG was a hit at launch, making $11 million in the first three days of its early access release in March 2017, just four months earlier than Fortnite’s release. But patch after patch, players have complained about how the game turned out—and mostly about the company’s decision to add bots.
The number of active players has consistently decreased over the years, according to Steam Charts. The game saw a boost in April, probably because of quarantine, but that number is already decreasing.
PUBG is available to download on Steam, Xbox One, PS4, and Stadia. It also has a mobile version for iOS and Android. It’ll be free to play on Steam from June 4 to 8.
