PlayerUnknown‘s Battlegrounds, now officially known as PUBG: Battlegrounds, is now free-to-play on all platforms. MeinMMO tells you everything you need to know.
Without PUBG, battle royales might not be the huge phenomenon they are today. Today, the genre is dominated by Fortnite, CoD Warzone, and Apex Legends – but the hype really started with PUBG. The competition for PUBG has had a huge advantage over the trendsetter so far: the other popular BRs are all free-to-play.
Now Bluehole Studios follows suit and makes PUBG free too. On PS4, PS5, Steam, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S you can download the battle royale for free.
For PlayStation players, there’s a small caveat: Since the game is rated 16+, it costs 25 cents in the Playstation Store, like other free-to-play games with this age restriction. This is intended to prevent minors from accessing the game.
Can I play the game immediately? No. Although you can download PUBG for free on all platforms now, the game’s servers are under maintenance for a while. This is to prepare the servers for the switch to a F2P model. You can start on Wednesday, January 12.
The trendsetter of battle royales is now F2P
What makes PUBG special? After PUBG’s release in 2017, the game was a massive hit on Steam and Twitch, and to this day it remains one of the most played shooters on Steam. It is also a phenomenon on smartphones with PUBG Mobile.
PUBG wasn’t the first BR, but it almost single-handedly brought the genre to the gigantic size it is today. With the switch to a F2P model, even more players should be able to play PUBG – until now, the game cost €29.99.
Is the game completely free? No. While you can play the base game without issues, you need to purchase a DLC for access to ranked matches and custom games.
This DLC is called Battlegrounds Plus. It includes access to the aforementioned modes as well as some cosmetic bonuses and in-game currency for further skins. The price of the DLC is €12.99. Players who purchased PUBG before the transition to the free-to-play model will receive Battlegrounds Plus with a few cosmetics right away.
You can already download it for free, and from January 12 you can also play.
Why it made it to our list of the 15 best multiplayer shooters of 2022 five years after release, you can find out here:
The 15 best multiplayer shooters of 2022 for PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, and Xbox
