PUBG--which is more formally known as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds--is rumored to become free-to-play in the future. The grandaddy of the battle royale genre first released back in 2017 and has since diminished a bit in popularity due to the rise in competition with titles like Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone. However, those over at Krafton and PUBG Corp seem to believe that moving to a free-to-play model could be good for the game's future if a new leak is to be believed.

News of this potential change to PUBG comes from PlayerIGN, who happens to be one of the most well-regarded insiders when it comes to all things related to the multiplayer shooter. According to PlayerIGN, those working on PUBG want to make the title free-to-play, but there remains uncertainty about whether or not this could be viable. Supposedly, PUBG will be going free for a limited time in August to see if it benefits the game. From here, the team working on PUBG will gauge player feedback and decide if it's something that could happen in perpetuity moving forward.

Leak:
PUBG wants to go free-to-play.

They’re going to track player responses in a F2P week that’s happening next month.

Keep in mind, PUBG originally wanted to go F2P in 2019; but didn’t get the player response they wanted att from 2019’s F2P test.

— PlayerIGN (@PlayerIGN) July 24, 2021

PlayerIGN also notes that PUBG has been wanting to move to a free-to-play model for a couple of years at this point. They report that the game wanted to shift to this format back in 2019, but player responses to a previous free-to-play period deemed that it would be a bad move for the title.

As a whole, it would make a lot of sense for PUBG to become free at this point in time. As mentioned, the steepest competition in the battle royale spaces comes from Fortnite and Warzone, both of which are free to download and play. If PUBG wants to remain relevant moving forward and maintain a large audience of players, moving to this business model just seems to be the smartest decision.

Posted: Jul 28, 2021 7:42 am
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/pubg-free-to-play-rumor/