PUBG: Battlegrounds is now free-to-play
Though ranked and custom matches will still cost you.
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After a lengthy 37 hours of maintenance, PUBG: Battlegrounds is live and newly free-to-play.
It was announced inDecemberthat the battle royale would shed its $30 price tag in favour of a format closer to fellow genre giants Apex Legends and Fortnite. The game now has a free basic version which includes most modes. If you want to dive into ranked or custom matches, you’ll need to fork out $13 for Battlegrounds Plus. Those who bought the game previously will have their accounts automatically upgraded to Battlegrounds Plus along with a handful of goodies in a special commemorative pack.
To celebrate the relaunch, Krafton is chucking all sorts of rewards at players through Drops events. Players can watch streams, complete in-game missions and invite friends to play to nab some extra bits and bobs for their character.
Along with the game going free-to-play, anew updatehas introduced tactical gear, action queueing and a host of training modes. The latter should be especially useful to the swathe of new players who dive in for their first chicken dinner with a basic training grounds, tutorials and AI training matches now available.
While PUBG: Battlegrounds still holds a decent player base, it’s a lot quieter than it was a few years ago. Morgan Park decided to return fora few matchesin 2021 but felt as though the game had failed to keep up with the genre it helped popularise.
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Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she’s not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.
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