Guess what! PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is to be free! Yes, you heard that right. Krafton has announced that the original PUBG is going to be free from January 2022. Up until now, PUBG has been priced at $30. PUBG was an exception in the battle royale scene due to its cost. Apex Legends and Fortnite, the other dominant battle royale games, have been free-to-play.
Since its early access launch in 2017, PUBG has been a paid game on Steam. PUBG inspired Epic Games to introduce a battle royale mode for Fortnite, which was a fairly new game at the time. Fortnite has garnered a huge fan base since. Further, Activision Blizzard also developed its own battle royale shooter, Call of Duty: Warzone.
THE ANNOUNCEMENT
Krafton made the announcement that PUBG will be free from January 12. The announcement was made at The Game Awards through a pre-rendered trailer.
However, this does not mean that everything in the game is free. Cosmetics, ranked matches, custom gameplay, and some other features are still to be paid for. This will be included in the Battlegrounds Plus “account upgrade” which will cost $13.
While this is not too much, it will help in battling cheaters. It might be easy to create a new account when one gets banned for cheating. However, a 13$ paywall for additional features does make one think about the consequences of cheating.
The only thing better than a Chicken Dinner, is a FREE Chicken Dinner with your friend. From January 12th, PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS embarks on a new journey; Free-to-play! Invite your friends and assemble your own squad! Pre-register now @ https://t.co/zupXYgnrwq pic.twitter.com/tx865jNMBK
— PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS (@PUBG) December 10, 2021
PUBG FAN BASE
- PUBG had once been the battle royale game. This was before other battle royale model games, especially Fortnite, took over the spotlight. The removal of the cost for playing the game might help PUBG to expand its fan base.
- However, it remains to be seen how effective this move will be. Fortnite poses serious competition in the battle royale genre. Apex Legends and CoD: Warzone will also pose a challenge to Krafton.
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