Amidst all the announcements of games coming out next year, Microsoft’s E3 pressblast included three tasty bits of news for future Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds updates from developers PUBG Corp.

1) The new map, Sanhok, will launch properly on June 22nd.
2) A ballistic shield is coming later this year, for cowards.
3) The whispered-about snowy map is expected to launch this winter.

The devs also blast a new trailer which pleasingly conveys some of the goofy banter and antics of the world’s premiere stag & hen weekend simulator, even if it doesn’t look much like how the game actually plays. Read the rest of this entry »

Whether you fancy a tropical getaway this weekend or to skulk in a rainy field with a bunch of folks dressed as bushes, Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds has you covered. To start, the final public beta test of the battle royale shooter’s third map, Sanhok, has been extended once again, this time until Monday. The tropical map been pretty wonky on the test servers, with players stuttering and jerking around particularly at the start of rounds, so developers PUBG Corp want to test it more. As for wet fields, the team deathmatch event mode War is returning tonight, this time arming everyone with sniper rifles and ghillie suits on rainy Erangel. Read the rest of this entry »

If you fancied visiting the third Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds map before it officially launches later this month but missed the public test over the weekend, good news: it’s been extended. The final beta for Sanhok, the 4x4km Southeast Asian island, was due to end today at noon but will now run until Thursday the 7th. That’s three extra days to creep through paddy fields, master skydiving through the hole into the cave, enjoy the dynamic fog and rain rolling across the map, lob apples around the lobby, and get megamurdered by other guests at Paradise Resort. Read the rest of this entry »

The tropical new island of Sanhok will properly arrive as the third Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds map “near the end of June”, developers PUBG Corp have said ahead of the final public beta test’s launch tonight. If you haven’t dropped on Sanhok yet, you might want to get the download started early today, as it uses a whole separate client.

Stag & hen parties who’d rather not dabble with unknowns get something new this week too, as an update for the main game has arrived with changes including making molotovs and grenades less rubbo. Heck, it’s not a real hen party until you’ve flashbanged the bride. Read the rest of this entry »

This morning, the PUBG dev team put out an elaborate letter to update the community about coming changes, priorities, plans for what comes next for the game, and how they plan to make their plans better known. You know, plans for planning plans. Some of this is probably related to recent server crashes, but there’s also an extensive list of upcoming changes for Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds that need to be taken into account and I’ll try to break down everything of note. We’ve already covered Ghillie Crossing and Sanhok previously. Oh, and those real world arrests for cheating.

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You’ll shiver at the sight of shrubs and bawl at bushes in the next three-day event mode coming to Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, because ‘Ghillie Crossing’ will see Erangel swarming with players armed with crossbows and wearing ghillie suits. The only projectile weapons in the four-lad mode will be crossbows, see, and ghillie suits will be found as regular world loot. Never mind the shooter on the grassy knoll; this time, the silent sniper will be the grassy knoll. Read the rest of this entry »

If things have sounded a little off in Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds lately, no, your ears haven’t broken. Developers PUBG Corp today confirmed that they have quietly tweaked how the game’s sound works, and apologised for not being clearer about it. They’ve been reworking its simulation of directional sound, trying to make it clearer for us to hear whether shots are coming from above or below, ahead or behind. And directional sound does seem easier to read, handy in a game where that can make all the difference, though I’m not sure if I like how the sound actually sounds. Hmm! Read the rest of this entry »

The end of war should be a cause for celebration, but there was only frustration when Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds ended its latest War Mode event after less than a day due to the servers crashing all over. A fortnight later, it’s fixed and back, raining heavily-armed players over tiny slices of Miramar for 5v5v5v5v5v5v5v5v5v5 team deathmatch with respawning. The event will end on Sunday night, mind, so you’ve only got two-and-a-half days to lock and load.

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The stag & hen weekend banter of Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds will enter fruity new heights tonight when the new 4x4km Southeast Asian map, now named Sanhok, enters public testing. Having previously required a key, it’ll launch in the new Experimental Client overnight (at 3am UK time on Friday; 7pm Pacific on Thursday), a little more polished than before – and with the new ability to pelt each other with apples while in the lobby. Scrumping? Foodfights? Classic banter. Oi OIII heads up you wankers. Read the rest of this entry »

The wee new map coming to Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, previously known as Codename: Savage, still needs a few months of work but it’s done enough to get a wider testing audience and finally receive a name. Sanhok is the name, developers PUBG Corp have announced, a portmanteau of the Thai word for fun and the Filipino word for chicken. Sanhok is a place inspired by islands around southeast Asia, see. Sanhok will launch another period of beta testing this week and this time it won’t require players to sign up for a key, letting everyone who owns the game have a play. Read the rest of this entry »

Bluehole ran into a serious issue this week, as their servers crashed 24 hours into the return of their 50 player deathmatch mode. Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds War was the temporary return of the team deathmatch from last month, which breaks from PUBG’s traditional ‘once you’re gone you’re gone’ structure and allows you to respawn. There are ten teams of five and everyone starts with top-tier loot. Or, would start with top-tier loot, if anyone was able to connect to the game. Desert Knights mode was supposed to run until the end of the weekend, but had to be yanked by Friday afternoon after a Thursday night launch.
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The folks of Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds have made one of the most significant adjustments to how the game is played, via the Weapons Balance Update (Patch 12), which re-balanced everything from damage to scope reticle to movement speeds while certain weapons are equipped. It’s such an intricate and deep re-alignment of the entire game that Plunkbat players are encouraged to take part in a new survey in order to make sure PUBG Corporation haven’t, you know, completely ruined the game. In exchange, there is a lottery system for survey participant rewards.

Also, if you’re still not on board with Plunkbat, please read about Plunkbat’s creator agreeing with you. You’re wrong, though, and so is he.

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I was just about to tell you how I’m looking forward to War mode, the (sorta) new event for Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds. Then I got caught off guard by just how edgy and ridiculous it sounds to get excited about something with a double-barrelled reference to conflict in its name. It’s a travesty that there’s nothing else we could call it.

Warm Plunkbat is the imminent and temporary return of the team deathmatch mode from last month, which breaks from PUBG’s traditional ‘once you’re gone you’re gone’ structure and lets you respawn. This time round though, it’s played with ten teams of five and everyone starts with top-tier loot. I wasn’t around for the last one, so I’m intrigued to see how Plunkbat plays when most of the tension of dying gets cut away. It kicks off at 3am, so if anyone’s mega keen you’ll only need to stay up for a few more hours.

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The Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds servers will go down for maintenance tonight then return with a map selection option, a boss new muscle car, a big weapon rebalancing, a new rifle, loads of extra scopes and grips and bits, and other shiny newness. This is all in Update 12, the rad big patch which has been in testing for a week, see. What I’ve played on the test server has really excited me, so grand, let’s go. Meet you outside El Pozo for muscle car races. Read the rest of this entry »

Not too long ago, Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds was a scruffy little also-ran in Early Access, barely evolved past its Day Z mod roots. Now, it’s multi-billion dollar business worldwide, especially in growing eastern markets. Big money protects itself, for better or worse, and a recent crackdown on the creators of popular cheat tools for Plunkbat has resulted in the arrest of 15 individuals in China, according to this developer update on Steam, along with reaffirmations that the anti-cheat software in-game would be improved.

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The long-awaited map select option, a muscle car with fluffy dice hanging from the mirror, a new marksman rifle, new weapon attachments, and a big weapon rebalance will drop into Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds in the next update. After weeks of minor updates, this sounds a good’un – or at least an interesting one. The rebalance aims to even out assault rifles so none is a clear “best”, power up submachineguns, increase the damage and range of shotguns, and generally make more weapons viable. The patch is on the test servers today and I’m certainly keen to check all this out. Read the rest of this entry »

Plunkbat (Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds for short) may have taken over the world already, but it’s not quite made the inroads into esports that you’d expect, leaving the likes of Overwatch and Counter-Strike to fill the vacuum. Well, as we all know, there’s only one solution to a lack of esports representation: Fat sacks of cash-money, and PUBG Corp. are providing as 20 teams congregate in Berlin this July to fight for a $2m (USD) prize pot.

And, presumably, a very expensive chicken dinner.

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The long-promised option to choose which map you play on in Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds is “almost complete”, developers PUBG Corp said today, though we will need to wait a little longer. If you fancy skipping one map or playing a particular one, you’ll have that option. The devs had expressed concerns that adding map select might increase matchmaking times an unpleasant amount but, after analysing data from tens of millions of matches, seem confident that it shouldn’t cause problems. They shared a look at the work-in-progress option and yup, it looks simple enough. Read the rest of this entry »

Codename: Savage, the new 4x4km map in development for Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, today is back in closed beta testing after handing out more keys over the weekend. Savage returns with several new areas, dynamic weather that continues to change throughout the round, and some interesting changes to the safe zone. Developers PUBG Corp say that Savage’s blue ring of death can now “calculate and adjust its waiting time based on the number of players left alive,” which I’d be interested to see them try on the regular maps too.

Back on the main client, the game this week will add a flight path map marker as well as new weapon skins – including for its iconic pan. Read the rest of this entry »

Grab nine of your closest murderpals because the latest Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds event mode is going big. War, as it’s named, is a 10v10v10 team deathmatch mode going down in static small circles. Players rain down from the skies already equipped with random gear, then battle to be the first team to hit the frag limit. And yup, this mode does have respawning. War may be good for absolutely nothing, but War mode looks a lark.

In other news, the new small map, Codename: Savage, is returning to closed testing next week. More beta keys will be available from Saturday. Read the rest of this entry »