This step was already announced last year, and today it was actually taken: The long-standing Battle Royale hit PUBG: Battlegrounds can now be played free of charge.
So today the developers at Krafton made the transition to the free-to-play model on both PC and consoles. The change was announced at the Game Awards in December and marks the start of a new era for the former Battle Royale trendsetter.
The fee that was previously due, which has always been comparatively low, is now completely eliminated; Anyone interested can get in for free, which means that Krafton is catching up with the well-known competition for Fortnite or Apex Legends. Instead, they now offer an optional premium account for a one-time fee of $12.99. The upgrade then gives you access to the following content and features:
- 1,300 G-COIN Bonus
- Survival Masters XP + 100 Prozent Boost
- Career – Medal Tab
- Ranked Mode
- Custom Match Funktion
- In-game items including the “Captain’s Camo Set” which consists of a hat, camouflage mask and camouflage gloves
Anyone who had already purchased PUBG: Battlegrounds before today’s switch will receive the “Special Commemorative Pack”. This includes an automatic upgrade to Battlegrounds Plus, as well as the in-game items Battle Hardened Costume Skin Set, Shackle & Shanks Legacy Pan, and Battle Hardened Legacy Nameplate.
The free-to-play switch is also accompanied by the new update to version 15.2, which also introduces a new category of items with tactical equipment. This should give you new options to improve performance in the game, but they do not affect pure gunplay.
The main features of the patch are officially stated as follows:
- Advanced roles with tactical equipment: Tactical Gear are unique items that players can obtain to provide additional support to their team during a match. Tactical Gear occupies the primary weapon slot, but opens up additional strategic options previously unavailable in the game:
- Drone: The Drone is a piece of tactical gear that allows players to scout at great distances and even pick up items without putting themselves at risk of direct combat. The drone will spawn on every map and has a range of action of 300 meters.
- Medical equipment: The Medic Kit is a piece of tactical gear that allows players to increase their healing potential for themselves and their team. In doing so, however, they lose flexibility in combat. Players with medical gear can heal injured teammates with their own healing items. When the Medic Kit is equipped, you can toggle between different healing items where the screen normally shows the equipped weapon’s fire mode. The medical kit will spawn on every map.
- Improved game flow with the new action queue: With the Action Queue feature, players prepare their next desired action by holding down the appropriate button while a specific action is in progress. The action is then executed immediately following the current one. For example, if a player holds down the fire button while reloading, the weapon will fire immediately after the reload finishes. This feature is turned off by default in-game, but can be toggled in Settings → Gameplay.
- Improved onboarding experience for new players with revised tutorials: In order to provide better gaming experience not only for new players but also for returning ones, two tutorial modes are added to the game:
- Basic training mode: In this mode, players can play through five phases in order to become familiar with the most important game mechanics. Including the basic character movements, looting and shooting weapons, looting and throwing items, using healing items and reviving knocked out teammates.
- AI Training Match: In this mode, players can throw themselves into a match with 99 AI-controlled survivors to experience the typical flow of normal matches. Tutorial messages will appear during each match, giving players suggestions on how to approach a variety of scenarios.
- Lobby Tutorial Missions: After completing the basic training mode and AI training matches, players can complete a series of additional tutorial missions that introduce them to additional game modes and features. Players who complete these missions will receive various in-game rewards.
- Game Quality Improvements by Screen Ping Marking: The game’s existing ping system has been improved with the addition of the ability to display the ping on screen where the player can see it. This improvement to the ping system is available in all Solo, Duo and Squad modes, but not in Ranked and Esports modes. The goal of this update is to enable faster and better communication between squadmates.
PUBG: Battlegrounds is free to play as a free-to-play title starting today.
