PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (abbreviated PUBG, also known as PUBG: Battlegrounds) is a multiplayer online game in the genre of royal battle, developed and published by PUBG Corporation, a subsidiary of Korean publisher Bluehole. The official distribution of the game in Russia is Mail.Ru Group.

The game is based on previous modifications for other games created by Brendan Greene under the pseudonym "PlayerUnknown", the concept of which was inspired by the Japanese film "Battle of the Royals" in 2000. This eventually led to the creation of an independent game, where Green acted as a leading game designer.There are up to 100 players in the game, who land on the island, after which they look for equipment and weapons to kill other participants and at the same time stay alive. The available safe area on the in-game card begins to shrink over time, making the available space narrower to confront players. The last surviving player or team wins the round.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was released on Steam under the Early Access Program on March 23, 2017 for the Windows operating system. In the first seven months after its release, more than 13 million copies of the game were sold, and the peak number of players reached more than 2 million by the end of the year, making it one of the most popular games on Steam.On October 31, PUBG sales exceeded 18 million copies. The full version of the game was released on December 21, 2017. The release for Xbox One by Microsoft Studios took place on December 12 under the early access program , but on September 4, 2018 the official release took place. On March 19, 2018, the mobile version of PUBG Mobile for Android and iOS was released on a free-to-play model. The version for PlayStation 4 was announced in November 2018, and released on December 7, 2018

• Gameplay

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is an action game in which up to 100 players fight in a Battle Royale, like a large-scale last man standing battle in deathmatch mode, where players fight each other to be the last survivors. Players can choose how to enter the match: alone, in pairs, in a trio or a group of four. In any case, the last person or team that survives wins the match.

Each match begins with all players parachuting from a plane over a map that is 2 x 2, 4 x 4, 6 x 6, or 8 x 8 km. The route of the flight through the map is chosen randomly at the beginning of the match, which requires players to quickly determine the best time to parachute.Players start the round without any equipment, except for customizable clothing, which has almost no effect on the gameplay. As soon as players land, they can inspect various buildings, structures and other structures in search of weapons, vehicles, clothing, armor, tactical equipment, medicines and other things. These items are distributed throughout the map at the beginning of the match, and certain areas have an increased chance of finding better equipment there.The killed players leave their equipment at the place of their death. Players can choose a view from the first or third person, each of which has its advantages and disadvantages in the combat situation and analysis of the current situation; however, before the match begins, the player can select server settings that allow you to choose to use only one type of perspective for all players to eliminate some benefits (for example, viewing the terrain from cover while remaining completely hidden behind it).

Some time after landing, every few minutes the playing area of ​​the card begins to decrease in a random place, and any player outside the safe zone will begin to take damage, which will eventually lead to his death and the end of the match for him, if he does not have time to get to the safe zone in time; in the game the player sees the boundary of the area as a shimmering bluish wall that narrows over time.As a result, the safe playing area becomes increasingly limited, which in turn increases the chances of meeting other players. Also during the match, a red zone appears in random areas of the map, which is bombed, which poses a threat to players who remain in this area. In both cases, players are warned a few minutes before these events, giving them time to move to safety.In addition, a plane will periodically fly over different areas of the play area on a random route, dropping a container with a parachute containing items that are usually not available during the gameplay. Upon landing, the cargo is marked with a red smoke grenade, which attracts interested players and creates additional confrontations. On average, a full round lasts no more than 30 minutes.At the end of each round, players receive in-game currency based on how long they survived, how many players they killed and how much damage they did. Currency is used to buy boxes containing items of clothing and footwear, hats to customize the appearance of the character.

• Development

The concept of the game was developed when lead designer Brendan Green under the pseudonym "PlayerUnknown" began working as a modder on Arma 2, later creating his own game mode, which is now called "Battle Royale". This game mode was later embodied in other games, such as H1Z1: King of the Kill. Seeing the commercial success of this genre, Brendan Green decided to make his own game in "Battle Royale". The game was released as part of Steam's early access program in March 2017. On December 21, 2017, the full release of the game took place.

On October 16, 2017, Mail.Ru Group became the official distributor of the game in Russia.

On January 12, 2022, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds switched to a free-to-play model.

• PUBG Lite

PubgLite is a free version of Battlegrounds, which is designed to run the game on weak computers due to a significant reduction in graphics and other features, but otherwise is a full version of the game. The version is intended for use in regions where it may be difficult for ordinary players to meet the minimum technical requirements of the game. The first beta was released in January 2019 in Thailand and in October in Europe.Support for the game and servers ceased on April 29, 2021.