The battle royale game formerly known as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds will go free to play January 12. The move has been rumoured for a while, and publisher Krafton confirmed at The Game Awards that PUBG: Battlegrounds will indeed join the ranks of free-to-play battle royales.
PUBG: Battlegrounds ran a free week earlier this year in partnership with Kpop group Blackpink, and rumours at the time suggested the move was a trial for the developers to measure the impact the move to a free-to-play business model might have on the constantly evolving battle royale. Those seem to have been correct, as tonight’s Game Awards reveal confirms.
Krafton provided a couple quick factoids about PUBG during the reveal as well, such as the fact that players have spent a combined total of more than 14 billion hours in PUBG since it launched five years ago. In the past couple months, we’ve seen Baby Shark and mountain bikes make their way into the game.
The Game Awards is an annual extravaganza hosted by veteran presenter and game journalist Geoff Keighley. In theory, it’s an award show highlighting the best of the past year’s games, but the show generates its biggest excitement with an array of announcements for new games from developers both big and small. Stick with us for coverage of all the upcoming PC games announced at the event.
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