‘PUBG’ going free-to-play in “no way a response” to other games

PUBG Corporation’s creative director Dave Curd recently talked to GamesRadar to explain the change, and why the battle royale title is shifting to a model akin to the competition.

“We came to the decision to make PUBG: Battlegrounds free to play because we feel that it is truly the right time,” explained Curd. “This is the natural next step and a great way to introduce more players to our universe.  I know there are a lot of people who are interested in PUBG: Battlegrounds but have never gotten around to playing it for various reasons – now is the perfect moment to get started.”

The choice to make PUBG free-to-play inevitably brings up the competition, as Fortnite, Warzone, and Apex Legends have all been free from the start, and Curd told GamesRadar that the decision to do the same for PUBG had nothing to do with the its rivals.

“This is in no way a response to the other titles you’ve mentioned. They’re all great games which specialize in their own unique strengths, just as we do. We develop our game independently of others and are excited to see what is to come.”

PUBG is instead introducing Battlegrounds Plus, which costs £9.99 ($12.99 USD) and includes 1,300 G-Coin, cosmetic items, and access to Ranked and Custom mode playlists. Players who already purchased the game before it went free-to-play will receive Battlegrounds Plus for free as well.

“We can invite more people to the party and that means we’ll see developments that we may not have witnessed with the previous pay-to-play model,” said Curd of cutting the previous payment model.

PUBG is available on all platforms for free starting today.

In other news, Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection is coming to the Nintendo Switch in February.