PUBG Mobile
flies over the battlefield to release a package with special equipment, potentially gun craft that cannot be found elsewhere on the island. All of these special events, including the normal safe zone shrinking, are announced to the players before they occur to give a fair warning.[6][7]
Additional features unique to the mobile version of PUBG include log-in bonuses, missions and micro-goals, crew recruiting, map and compass improvements with larger and clear markers near the teammates, and an auto loot system, as well as an increased number of bots.[8][9]
Development
edit
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) Mobile is the mobile adaption of the popular battle royale game, PUBG: Battlegrounds, developed by PUBG Studios and LightSpeed & Quantum Studio, published by Tencent Games worldwide, while Krafton and VNG Games in India, Korea and Vietnam respectively. The game was released in March 2018 and has since become one of the most popular mobile games in the world.
The development of PUBG Mobile took just 4 months to be completed, as multiple teams from around the world contributed to the project. The project began with the original PC and console version of the game, which was developed by Brendan Greene (known as PlayerUnknown) and released in 2017. Following the success of that particular game, Tencent Games began their development project with PUBG Studios for the mobile version. In doing so, they had to create an evolution of the Unreal Engine 4, which was optimized to suit the mobile platform, with a focus on smoother performance and enhanced graphics.[10][11]
An abridged version of the game for lower-end Android devices, PUBG Mobile Lite,[12] was first released in Thailand on 24 January 2019 before releasing in Asian, Latin American, and African countries.[13][14]
Release
edit
Following India international deal for the Windows version, Tencent Games and PUBG Corporation announced plans to release two mobile versions of the game in China.[15][16] The first, PUBG: Exhilarating Battlefield, is an abridged version of the original game, and was developed by LightSpeed & Quantum Studio, an internal division of Tencent Games.[17] The second, PUBG: Army Attack, includes more arcade-style elements, including action taking place on warships, and was developed by Tencent's Timi Studio.[18] Both versions are free-to-play, and were released for Android and iOS devices on 9 February 2017.[19][20] The games had a combined total of 75 million pre-registrations, and ranked first and second on the Chinese iOS download charts at launch.[20] Following a soft launch in Canada, an English version of Exhilarating Battlefield, localized as PUBG Mobile, was released worldwide on 19 March 2018.[21][22][23] PUBG Mobile KR, a Korean and Japanese oriented version and PUBG Mobile VN, a Vietnamese oriented version released in June 2018 and January 2019 respectively.
In China, PUBG Mobile had been awaiting approval by the government for an authorized release, during which the game could only be offered as a public test. However, Tencent's planned release was suspended due to the government approval freeze across most of 2018. By May 2019, Tencent announced it would no longer seek to publish PUBG Mobile in China, but instead would re-release the game under the title Game for Peace; this version of the game changed elements of the original game to meet China's content restrictions, such as eliminating blood and gore.[24] Following its release, a Taiwanese version of the game, PUBG Mobile TW was released.
A version meant for lower-end mobile devices, PUBG Mobile Lite, was released on 25 July 2019.[25][26] This has support for high FPS gameplay on multiple Android devices and features a smaller map made for 60 players.[27] The Chinese version of the app was again renamed to Peacekeeper Elite in 2020.[28]
Controversies
edit
On 2 September 2020, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology banned PUBG Mobile in India amid the 2020 China-India skirmish. Following this, Tencent Games terminated all services for users in India on 30 October 2020.
On 6 May 2021, Krafton announced the relaunch of the game in India, following the ban imposed by the Government of India. Krafton published the game in the country as Battlegrounds Mobile India(BGMI), which can only be accessed by users in the country. In 2022, BGMI was removed from the playstore and the apple appstore as per orders from the Indian Government due to an alleged data leak to Chinese servers, however the game could still be played and installed using an .apk file [29][30]
On 19 May 2023, Krafton publicly announced BGMI is getting relaunched for a trial period after a 10-month long dispute.[31]The game was finally re-released on May 27 for Android users and May 29 for iOS users. However, on both the platforms, it was playable only after May 29.
On 28 January 2022, a 14-year-old from Pakistan allegedly shot and killed his entire family. The Punjab police said this was "under the influence" of said game.[32]
Esports
edit
PUBG Mobile booth at Taipei International Video Game Show in 2021
The game supports several e-sport leagues and tournaments.[33] Each major region has a PUBG Mobile Club Open (PMCO) and players compete in their respective regions until later tournaments.[34] Only 32 teams can qualify out of the many teams that signed up. This phase is known as the PMCO group stage, where the 32 teams are divided into four groups of eight. PMCO in India was held in 2019 for the first time, and the winner of the tournament was Naman Mathur and his team.[35] Once the group stages have elapsed, the finals are hosted where the top 16 teams play. From here, the teams compete to make it to a higher level of competition known as the PUBG Mobile Pro League (PMPL). Later, eSports grew a lot in various countries including India, China, Indonesia, and many more, giving opportunities to many potential players.[36][37]
Reception
edit
Reception
Aggregate score
Aggregator Score
Metacritic iOS: 82/100[38]
Review scores
Publication Score
GameSpot 8/10[39]
IGN 8.7/10[40]
Jeuxvideo.com 16/20[42]
Pocket Gamer [41]
PUBG Mobile received "generally favourable" reviews according to the review aggregator Metacritic.[38]
PUBG Mobile received "generally favourable" reviews according to the review aggregator Metacritic.[38]
Downloads
edit
PUBG Mobile was the second most-downloaded mobile game of 2018, with nearly 300 million downloads worldwide. The game's largest market was China, which accounted for 29% of the game's downloads, followed by India and the United States, each with about 10% (30 million) of its downloads. It was the most-installed battle royale game of 2018, with about 200 million more installs than Fortnite.[43] In March 2021, PUBG Mobile had accumulated more than a billion downloads outside of China.[44] Including Peacekeeper Elite, the Chinese version of the game, and Battlegrounds Mobile India, the game had a total player count of around 1.3 billion as of December 2022.[4][45]
Revenue
edit
PUBG Mobile grossed ¥3.58 billion ($32.42 million) in Japan in 2018.[46] PUBG Mobile grossed over $3.5 billion in revenue by August 2020.[47] PUBG Mobile grossed over $2.6 billion in 2020, making it the highest-grossing game of the year and bringing its total revenue to over $4.3 billion as of December 2020.[48] That figure had increased to over $9 billion as of December 2022.[4]
Awards
edit
Year Awards Category Result References
2018 Golden Joystick Awards Mobile Game of the Year Won [49]
The Game Awards 2018 Best Mobile Game Nominated [50]
Gamers' Choice Awards Fan Favorite Mobile Game Nominated [51]
2019 Italian Video Game Awards 2019 Best Mobile Game Nominated [52]
37th Golden Joystick Awards Esports Game of the Year Nominated [53]
Google Play Users’ Choice Awards Best Competitive Game Won [54]
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards India Favourite Mobile Game Nominated [55]
Esports Awards Esports Breakthrough Game of The Year Nominated [56]
2020 Indonesia Gaming Awards Game of the Year Won [57]
Esports Awards Esports Mobile Game of the Year Nominated [58]
2021 Esports Awards Esports Mobile Game of the Year Nominated [59]
2022 Esports Awards Esports Mobile Game of the Year Won [60]
Archived from the original on 25 December 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
Sheridan, Connor (16 November 2018). "Golden Joystick Awards 2018 winners: God of War wins big but Fortnite gets Victory Royale". gamesradar.
Grant, Christopher (6 December 2018). "The Game Awards 2018: Here are all of the winners". Polygon.
Glyer, Mike (19 November 2018). "2018 Gamers' Choice Awards Nominees". File 770.
"Italian Video Game Awards Nominees and Winners". Italian Video Game Awards. 11 April 2019. Archived from the original on 21 March 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
Tailby, Stephen (20 September 2019). "Days Gone Rides Off with Three Nominations in This Year's Golden Joystick Awards". Push Square. Archived from the original on 20 September 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
Venkatesh, Aarthi (12 December 2019). "PUBG Mobile wins Best Competitive Game award for the second consecutive year". www.sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
"PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (Video Game 2017)". IMDb. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
"PUBG Mobile Is Nominated As The Esports Breakthrough Game of the Year". GuruGamer.com. 26 October 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
Rossel, John Dave (20 December 2020). "PUBG Mobile and BTR Zuxxy Won Awards at the Indonesia Gaming Award 2020". AFK Gaming. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
"Free Fire & PUBG Mobile Are Nominated For Esports Mobile GOTY Award". GuruGamer.com. 24 July 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
Gametube (26 November 2021). "PUBG Mobile finishes second in Mobile Game of the Year category at Esports Awards 2021 as Free Fire claims first spot". www.sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
"Esports Awards 2022: PUBG Mobile Wins Esports Mobile Game of the Year Award". AFKGAMING. 14 December 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2022.