That’s okay for now since PUBG is one of the best-selling games ever and accomplished this in less than a year, and it is still one of the most popular games on the internet. But H1Z1 was in a similar spot a year ago and some slow development and bad decision-making saw it fall off the map. Even its recent launch out of early access and going free-to-play today cannot save H1Z1 so in response to all of this, Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene finally took to community to lay out plans for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds in 2018 and it’s about damn t

The team at Bluehole and PUBG Corp. will ultimately make the final decisions as to what will make PUBG the best game that it can be. However, it is refreshing to hear that the game’s leadership and development team take community feedback to heart, especially as the game continues to build itself out since exiting Early Access late last year, and announcing its 2018 roadmap last mon

Not long after its main competitor Fortnite came to iOS devices, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds released a mobile version as well. Available to both iOS and Android users and requiring no special invite codes at launch, PUBG Mobile seems to have taken off as one of the more popular battle royale mobile games on the market, and for good rea

2018 will bring new looks and sounds to Battlegrounds as well. They’ll be working on overhauling their animation systems, which will make things look smoother and more realistic. Some buildings, plant life and other environmental assets will be reworked, and customizable parachutes and weapon skins are also on the docket. In terms of sound, the focus will be on greater detail when it comes to vehicles and on-foot movement. Driving will sound more realistic with suspension and skidding sounds, as well as environmental differences like weather and road conditions that will change how the wheels sounds against the ground. While on foot, they want to make it so that your movement noises will sound different depending on what you’re carrying. They’re also planning to change the way guns sound depending on your POV and changing how your character’s breath sounds depending on whether you are running, aiming or holding your breath.

The test servers will be home to a lot of tweaks to gameplay as well. Bullets don’t currently penetrate through limbs or vehicles, but this mechanic will be tested out soon. This in an attempt to add depth to the ballistic system and to make the game feel more realistic. He reassures players that they will be listening especially closely to player feedback on that one.

Unfortunately, Greene wouldn’t say anything regarding actual details, nor would he reveal any of the new weapons, potential modes or vehicles coming to the game. The update didn’t talk about the Xbox version of the game or loot boxes either, but it did offer some examples of aesthetic changes coming to existing assets – improving the look and level of detail on buildings. The biggest reveal however (the only real reveal) is that of a smaller, 4x4km island map designed to offer players a quicker battle royale experie

And finally, for you developers out there, Bluehole is working on a PUBG Tips Developer Portal and API that will allow developers to create “compelling resources for players.” The API will include match data at the match-level, season-level and lifetime-level, allowing developers to create custom games within PUBG itself. This in hopes that it will help eSports groups create and manage games for broadcast.

As you can imagine, another major focus for the development team is working out the kinks in stability — a task which is a much more common topic of discussion for both the developers and the community. In this respect, Bluehole noted “it is impossible to solve these problems once and for all, but our goal is to continuously improve in this rega

The new and much smaller 4×4 km island map will be released on the test server in April. It is meant to give a shorter, more intense experience with the same number of players. An 8×8 km map is also on the way to the test servers.

First, though, he mentioned updates. The team is committing to more frequent updates, with big content delivery coming every two months, and smaller updates coming more frequently. The big ones will make changes to systems or drop content, where smaller updates will focus on bugs. Aesthetics will be updated now and again as well. Bluehole will also launch an Experimental Test Server to help get feedback from players on future content.

At any rate, for those hoping that the red zone is going away any time soon, you may just want to start heeding the on-screen warnings a little better…or, maybe, just avoid being anywhere near the red zone altoget

PlayerUnknown also wants to get Battlegrounds onto the eSports scene, but isn’t ready yet. They are in the process of developing systems for broadcasters to use for better match coverage and want to work on it more before letting people use it. The data analytics team at Bluehole is working to improve the ranking and player performance data to make sure they are ready to get into the eSports world as well.