Of all the Battlegrounds in the world, none are quite as dangerous as Vikendi. A 6km island blanketed in snow and bathed in the Aurora Borealis, is it as harsh as it is beautiful. Yet before it was a Battleground, Vikendi thrived as a space exploration hub, a tourist attraction, and to some, a quiet place to call home.

To get players up to date with the sights of this new map, we’re covering some of the points of interest around the island. Read on!

With only a third of the island untouched by snow, Vikendi is a tracker’s paradise. Fresh footprints across a sea of snow leave no question as to who has been there before. But while open fields and forests are abundant, there are also dozens of small villages dotting the entirety of the island.

There are also locations where the rivers have frozen over, allowing you to cross on foot or with a vehicle and see cover around one of the many frozen objects in the ice.

Cities within Vikendi feature a very prominent European building style and their stone walls and densely placed buildings make for great opportunities for cover, or leaping across the rooftops to catch your opponents off guard.

Now, let's look into a few key cities and points of interest.





Cantra is the often talked about village by the sea on the edge of Vikendi. The natural hot spring in this area made the village a popular destination for tourists looking to enjoy Vikendi’s stunning beauty while soothing away the cold.





The Castle, complete with a moat formed by Vikendi’s largest river, is a standing reminder of Vikendi’s past. Well protected and with a vantage point across much of the surrounding land, the Castle is a statement of power from a time long past. Even today, Survivors hold up in the Castle are a force to be dealt with as its high towers provide a heavy advantage against a would-be siege.





Volk Cement saw a huge opportunity with Vikendi’s abundance of limestone and set up their factory to meet the demands of Vikendi’s rising Commercial and Tourism needs. High rising silos, walkways, and warehouses make up the factory, providing plenty of areas for Survivors to gear up.





Cosmodrome and it’s unlaunched rocket are a stark reminder that not all dreams come true. An abandoned space center with huge maintenance hangars, control centers, and the remains of one of Vikendi’s tallest structures, Cosmodrome still leaves visitors with a strong impression-- everything on Vikendi eventually dies, even dreams.





Dino Park is the perfect example of how prosperous Vikendi used to be. A prehistoric amusement park, filled with various attractions including a roller coaster, bumper cars, and a “thrilling” dino maze, Dino Park was touted as fun for the whole family, as long as they were willing to drop some serious money on overpriced dino plushies in the gift shop.





Dobro Mesto is one of Vikendi’s first major cities and as such remains one of the largest. Its glorious central plaza housed a famous clock tower and once attracted hundreds of people buying and selling crafts in a sort of communal market.





Goroka is a unique lakeside town near central Vikendi. At the base of Mount Kreznic, the frigid temperatures of the island keep the lake frozen nearly all year round that once supported a small industry of ice fishermen. Nowadays, the ice is much more dangerous to be on with the high ground around it a prime spot for an ambush.





A traditional river city, Podvosto had larger town comforts such as bakeries and cafes, yet the “right at home” feeling of a small town. The old Podvosto Walkway was the original bridge connecting the two parts of this city, but in later years became a popular destination for young couples to walk together before marriage in a symbolic display of their upcoming life together.





Located on the Northeastern coast of Vikendi, Trevno was a place where the poorer families of Vikendi went to live. Many of those who were lucky enough to have steady work were employed by the Zupan company, who hand stitched every dinosaur plushie sold by Dino Park. Being relatively far away from the island’s other destinations and with only their old lighthouse as a tourist spot, Trevno was never high on must-see lists. The low tourism income led to infrastructure in need of repairs and a large pipeline explosion didn’t make tourists feel much safer.





Volnova was as big and bustling of a city as they come in Vikendi, with its first buildings dating back to the middle ages. Heritage and history were important to Volnova’s residents, but they were always eager to welcome a new restaurant or cafe. Centrally located between some of Vikendi’s main attractions, Volnova’s several hotels were always full, and the popularity of the city led to many buildings being built on top of each other. Even as part of a battleground, Volnova is still a popular destination where danger can strike from any direction.





The Dolinšek family took advantage of one of Vikendi’s warmest spots to set up their business and grow grapes for their traditional wine. They remained a popular tourist destination for wealthy people doing the “world tour of wine” and had daily showings and tastings in their heated underground lounge. The family business never quite recovered from a mysterious collapse of their lounge during one of these tours, which caused the deaths of several wealthy patrons.





Zabava was a small artists’ town near the the old harbor. Sailors who passed through often fell for the town’s charm and culture and many wound up eventually laying down roots there. Zabava was also the first location of the famous Horvat’s Chicken restaurant, which spread to several locations around Vikendi and beyond.



Vikendi is a unique and diverse island and there are many more places, businesses, and attractions awaiting survivors dropping onto the island. While you should be watching your back first and foremost, we hope you find the time to also enjoy the beauty, style, and culture that let it stand out among the battlegrounds.

PUBG’s newest Battleground, Vikendi, is officially live and you can gear up for it with the all-new Survivor Pass! Survivor Pass: Vikendi works similarly to the Event Pass that launched with Sanhok, except it’s jam-packed with over 100 levels that let you earn great new skins and rewards to help you look the part on the harsh landscape of Vikendi.

Check out the video below for a quick overview or read on for all the details!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIU0yCL2EQk



As before, all players will have access to the basic Survivor Pass for free, which allows everybody to bring home some sweet new looks. Each level earned also gives a brand new Coupon, which can be used to purchase items from the Coupon Shop available during the Survivor Pass period. For those who want everything the pass has to offer, a Premium Survivor Pass may be purchased for $9.99 which gives access to over 60 exclusive skins and emotes as well as great rewards for completing premium missions. You can see which rewards are unlocked at each level by viewing the pass in the client or on the Survivor Pass microsite.



To participate, simply play the game and complete Survivor Pass missions to earn XP and level up your pass. There are Beginner, Daily, Weekly, Premium, and Challenge missions available, but some missions and rewards are only available to Premium pass holders. Progress your pass as far as you can during the 10 week period and claim your awesome new rewards!



For players who want to boost their progress, instant level packs with 5, 20, and 50 levels are available for purchase, which will immediately grant their levels and the rewards attached to them!

PUBG and the Premium Survivor Pass are available now through Steam and the in-game store. If you don’t own PUBG yet, you can pick up a bundle with the game and Premium Pass together for the discounted price of $34.99. Even better, PUBG is part of the Steam Winter Sale! From now through January 3rd, you can pick up the PUBG Survivor Pass Bundle for just $24.99 and the base game for only $19.99!

You can learn more about the Survivor Pass on the new microsite.

Update 24 and Vikendi are on live servers now and you can check out the updated patch notes here, highlighting all the changes between test server and launch.

Now’s the best time to get in on the action, so drop in, level up, collect your rewards, and hit the slopes of Vikendi in style!

For more information, see our FAQ below or visit the Survivor Pass: Vikendi microsite.




Q. If I don’t buy the Premium Survivor Pass, will I still be able to participate in the event?
A. All players can level up and earn rewards, but some missions and rewards are exclusive to Premium Survivor Pass holders. Holders of the Premium Survivor Pass will have access to 6 additional Weekly Missions every week, exclusive rewards for completing Premium Missions, and 60+ exclusive rewards from leveling up.

Q. How do I get the Premium Survivor Pass?
A. The Premium Survivor Pass may be purchased for $9.99 through Steam or the in-game store.

Q. How many missions are available with the Survivor Pass: Vikendi?
A. The Survivor Pass features 300+ missions over the course of 10 weeks in the form of Daily, Weekly, and Premium Missions. There are also Beginner for those just starting out, and Challenge missions to test the grit of even the most seasoned survivor.

Q. When are Weekly Missions updated?
A. After the Survivor Pass opens on December 19, Weekly Missions will be updated every Wednesday at 9AM KST (Tuesday at 5PM PDT).

Q. What if I buy the Survivor Pass late in the event period?
A. You will immediately receive all Premium rewards up to your current level, and will have until the Pass period ends to earn the rest of your rewards. Level packs can also be purchased to supplement levels if time is running short.

Q. How do I level up?
A. You can level up by earning XP by completing missions from the Survivor Pass. If you want to level up quicker, instant level up packs are available in the store for purchase.

Q. Do I get to keep my rewards after the event is over?
A. Yes, these are permanent rewards that you unlock and keep on your account forever.

Q. Is it possible to trade reward items from the Survivor Pass with other players?
A. All reward items from Survivor Pass: Vikendi are non-tradable and non-marketable.

Q. I’m having a problem claiming rewards from Survivor Pass: Vikendi. What should I do?
A. Please contact PUBG customer support with any issues.

Q. Can I refund the Premium Pass?
A. Please contact Steam customer service for any inquiries related to refunding the Premium Pass.

Hey Everyone,

Winter has arrived. With Update #24, we’re debuting something we’ve been eager to share with you for months; our new 6x6 snow-themed map, Vikendi! An isolated Northern resort island in the shadow of Mount Kreznic, Vikendi was home to a wide variety of attractions, businesses, and villages. Look to the future from the spacecraft launch site Cosmodrome or travel back to the past and walk with the giants at the prehistoric Dino Park. Visit the aging Castle or take a tour of the winery. Vikendi is as beautiful as it is dangerous and Survivors treading these bitter cold lands will have to watch their backs even more closely as the fresh snow is perfect for leaving behind footprints! The days are long on Vikendi, but it won’t be long before the sun sets and the auroras fill the moonlit skies.

We feel Vikendi is a mixture of all the best parts of our previous maps and we can’t wait to hear your feedback. But that’s not everything coming in this patch! We’re also introducing two brand new items exclusive to the map; the G36C Assault Rifle (which replaces the SCAR on Vikendi) and the Snowmobile to navigate its icy terrain. We’ve also completed an overhaul to our in-game replay system, putting you in the director’s chair to edit clips, create 3D camera movements, and export your work so show the world your best PUBG productions! Coming later in the patch is our overhaul to the Parachuting system, which allows you to glide or dive during freefall, improves animations, and also lets you cut your chute before hitting the ground.

As always, your feedback is essential to our continued development and we especially need your input at times like these. Once you’ve played the map, please take the time to let us know what you think on our Official Forums or Reddit. We know you’ve waited a long time for this map, so without further ado, onto the patch notes!


Vikendi is not yet available in custom matches but will be available in an upcoming update.

• Vikendi is 6x6km map. The gameplay of Vikendi is quicker than Erangel and Miramar, but offers an arguably more tactical experience than Sanhok.
  
• Players can throw snowballs while waiting to board the plane in the starting area
  
• Vehicles will be more slippery in snow or icy areas. Acceleration on icy terrain is slow and you lose more general vehicle control as you speed up
  
• Footprints and vehicle tracks will appear as players travel in snow-covered areas. Keep an eye out! These are great to help identify if enemies have passed by recently
  
  • Keep in mind that footprints and tracks in the snow don’t stay around forever!

• The center of the red zone spawns outside of the play zone
  
• The smaller the play zone, the smaller the red zone

• The first circle of every game is much smaller than other maps, but subsequent circle sizes change less drastically.
  
  • This facilitates more blue zone variety and unique experiences.
• Similar strategies work on Vikendi to Erangel and Miramar for the first three phases, but the zones will close slower starting from phase 4, similar to Sahnok. We feel this leads to a good balance between strategy and gunplay throughout the duration of each match

• The overall item spawn rate is at a midpoint between our maps - offering a unique place between the spawn rates of Erangel and Sahnok.
  
  • Level 3 helmets spawn in the world
    
  • Level 3 vests spawn more often than other maps
    
  • Smoke Grenades are spawned at a higher rate compared to other throwables

The official Survivor Pass: Vikendi microsite is now live, check it out!

• The duration of the pass is 10 weeks.
  
• Players have the opportunity to complete missions and receive rewards throughout the duration of the pass.
  
• Two types of passes are available:
  
  • Survivor Pass: Vikendi - Provides missions and rewards to unlock for all players, as they level-up the pass.
    
  • Premium Pass - Provides special missions and exclusive rewards to players who’ve purchased the premium pass, as they level-up the pass.
• The Premium Pass is purchasable for $9.99 (price may vary slightly depending on your region).
  
• Each level you can claim rewards from Survivor Pass: Vikendi in the Rewards tab and also claim Coupons by clicking on the ‘Drop In Supply’ button.
  
  • Coupons can be used to unlock exclusive rewards, read on for more details.
• You can view your current mission lists in the ‘Missions’ tab and can also check the mission lists in-game by clicking 'P' prior to jumping out of the plane.
  
• There are 5 mission types available to complete:
  
  • Daily Missions: 3 missions will be provided every day. You swap out up to 1 mission per day.
    
  • Weekly Missions: 10 missions will be available every week, and you can view the missions for specific weeks.
    
    • Premium Pass holders can complete up to 10 missions per week and all players with Survivor Pass: Vikendi can complete up to 4 missions.
  • Beginner Missions: Easy missions which are provided for beginner players.
    
  • Premium Missions: All players can complete these missions, but only players who have the Premium Pass can claim rewards after completion.
    
  • Challenge Missions: Theses are special missions provided for players who’ve completed all their weekly missions in a specific week. It contains more challenging and advanced missions.
    
    • All players can complete Challenge Missions, but only players who have the Premium Pass can claim rewards after completion.

Added ‘Coupon’ system in Survivor Pass: Vikendi

• You can claim Coupons (Blue, Yellow and White) each level, which you can then use to unlock exclusive items in the Coupon Shop.

The existing Survival Rewards system will be integrated with Survivor Pass: Vikendi on December 19th.

• We have integrated the existing Survival Rewards system into Survivor Pass: Vikendi in order to reflect feedback from the players regarding temporary items and duplicate rewards.
  
• Existing Survival Rewards system will be closed on December 19, 2018 and all existing supply missions will end.
  
  • Make sure to click ‘Claim’ and ‘Drop In Supply’ to redeem rewards before the system is closed.
    
    
  • A banner in lobby will display remaining time for the Survival Rewards system.

• G36C spawns only in Vikendi
  
  • Chambered for 5.56mm ammo, it can load 30 bullets and 40 with an Extended Magazine
    
  • G36C has a lower and upper rail for attachments, but cannot attach a stock

• The Snowmobile only spawns in Vikendi
  
  • It seats 2 players and performs much better than other vehicles on snow and ice, but is more difficult to drive on other terrain.

• This system allows you to create dynamic video clips with creative camera angles and special effects using your replay files
  
• You can also create 3D paths for the camera and camera angles and export clips
  
  • Guide & Tutorial of the replay editor system will be updated later.

• Improved the character animations used in the air.
  
  • Character movements are much more fluid and have been improved to be more realistic.

Please share your feedback regarding the parachuting changes!

• Freefalling
  
  • Holding SPRINT [Default SHIFT] now puts you into a dive at full speed straight down towards the ground
    
  • Turning speed is now much faster and has increased control, responsiveness, and precision
• Parachuting
  
  • Added new freefall animations and increased overall control and responsiveness
    
  • Holding SPRINT [Default SHIFT] helps you drop faster and land quicker
    
  • Holding WALK [Default LCTRL] lets you glide, when you want to travel a longer distance
    You can now cut the parachute while relatively close to the ground, while still moving through the air.
    
    • This can be used to strategically to get to your drop point faster, but be careful, as you can take damage if you drop too far
  • Added new landing animations
    
    • The speed in which you land matters, as landing too fast may force your character to roll, or roll for longer, before you can gain full control of your movement
  • Colliding with buildings or objects while parachuting will now automatically cut your parachute. Be careful!
    
  • The parachute no longer disappears instantly after landing

• Improved blood hit effects
  
  • Improved the visuals of blood particles when players are shot.
    
  • Improved the visuals of blood effects that appear on screen when shot by other players.
• Slightly decreased the maximum number of shots possible to fire per second with the M16A4
  
  • The reason for this change was due to the fire-rate of burst mode for the M16A4 being unintentionally slower than single fire shot rapidly
    
  • We are planning to have a weapon balance patch in the first half of 2019. Please continue to share your feedback with us regarding weapon balance
• Adjusted the sight position to be closer to the muzzle for some weapons
  
  • In a future update, we will be adding a new attachment which will require this new sight position, so we've made the change in advance to help players adjust to the change
    
  • There is no change to weapon recoil, but weapon control may be perceived differently due to the sight location change
• Players now receive damage from Molotovs that hit their vehicle
  
  • Molotovs that hit around the vehicle, or when driven through an already-exploded molotov will not damage those inside

• Changed Season 1 Beta Rank system to Season 2 Beta Survival Title System.
  
• For more information, please check the Dev Letter (Introducing our new Beta Season 2 Title System) released on Dec 5.
  
• Season 1 Beta has ended and the Survival Title System (Season 2 Beta) will begin in 1 week.
  
  • No RP will be gained during the grace period between seasons, although career stats will continue to be tracked.

• Changed the overall lobby theme in celebration of our latest map - Vikendi
  
  Applied the snowfield environment theme
  • Applied a snowing effect
    
  • Changed the background music
• Improved the Store feature
  
  • Added additional sorting features to sort by Featured, Newest, Price High to Low, Price Low to High
    
  • When you preview items in the store, only the selected item to be previewed will be displayed on your character. All items equipped in your wardrobe will be unequipped.
    
  • If you preview a helmet skin, makeup or other items covering the face, all other items equipped on the head will be unequipped
  • Combined the 'Career' and 'Leaderboard' menu in Statistics into a 'Season' menu
    
  • Added On/Off option keybind for the on-screen key guide
    
    • You can toggle the on-screen key guide by pressing ALT+K
      
    • You can change the default setting for this feature in the settings under the Gameplay tab

Improved the map and game-mode selection interface

Additional queuing information is now displayed for the selected match type.


If the matching pool in your region has sufficient players for healthy matchmaking, the expected wait time will be displayed for the selected match type.


When the matching pool in your region doesn't have enough players for healthy matchmaking, an accurate estimated waiting time cannot be provided and the number of players currently queuing will be displayed instead.


When the concurrent player count for a region is too low to start games consistently in a particular mode, those players will be redirected to their next closest region instead. A message will alert players when this is happening and to expect higher ping than local servers.


Training mode can now be found under the PLAY menu, next to public match

• Optimized foliage and vegetation rendering
  
• Improved CPU performance by optimizing the object creation process
  
• Improved GPU performance for Medium and Low options by adjusting graphic quality related to the 'Post Processing' with those settings (tuned HBAO+)

• Players banned mid-match from cheating, teaming, teamkiling, etc now have their ban displayed in real-time on the killfeed.

• Fixed an issue where each weapon had a different delay between reloading and being able to fire
  
• Fixed an issue which caused vehicles to sometimes pass through players, when rolling down a hill
  
• Fixed an issue which prevented the system menu from opening when clicking a specific spot on the button
  
• Fixed an issue when laying prone right next to a wall, your weapon could move through the wall in FPP
  
• Fixed an issue when spectating a player who died in Replay Mode, the follow camera stopped working
  
• Fixed an issue which caused sudden frame drops temporarily when quickly toggling voice/sound options repeatedly
  
• Fixed an issue that caused the region indicator in-game beneath the health bar to display as “UNKNOWN”
  
  • Region indicator will now not be shown until before the match countdown starts
• Fixed an issue which caused character animations to look unnatural when players were pushed by a vehicle moving down a hill
  
• Fixed an issue caused after restarting the lobby with 'Open Crate’ and 'Preview' buttons displaying on the left side of the screen in the Store Inventory page
  
• Fixed an issue which caused the camera to fall into the ground in replay mode after parachuting
  
• Fixed an issue where the angle of the spectated player's view was different from that of the player
  
• Fixed exploits at Castle and Volnova which allowed players to get underneath the map.
  
• Resolved issue where wire fences were impenetrable by bullets (some chicken wire fences still need to be fixed).
  
• Resolved minor map issues, including some instances of floating vegetation.
  
• Fixed an issue which could cause grenades to drop in place, or prevented them from being thrown.
  
• Disabled vaulting through certain small windows on Vikendi.
  
• Fixed an issue where a character was moved to a free-look direction while free-looking during freefalling
  
• Fixed an issue where players appear to still have the parachute equipped after landing.
  
• Fixed an issue which cause the camera to shake while ADS and moving in a prone position on sloped terrain
  
• Fixed an issue which caused ammo capacity to display up to 6 decimal places
  
• Fixed an issue which while spectating could cause the spectated player's weapon to display in a misaligned position
  
• Fixed an issue which prevented players with non-default WALK and SPRINT keys from using new parachute mechanics correctly
  
• Fixed an issue where Survivor Pass: Vikendi mission list was not showing properly when scrolled down using the mouse wheel

• Vikendi is not yet available in custom matches but will be available in an upcoming update
  
• Improved Observer UI
  
  • Added a Bullet Tracer On/Off option in the Settings Menu
    
    • This can be found under Settings – Gameplay – Observer – Show Tracer Display
      
    • Use Tracer Team Color - This changes the color of team tracers
  • Added new text for when teams are eliminated
    
    • OLD: “X Wiped Out X”
      
    • NEW: “X ANNIHILATED X”
  • Added new text when certain kill levels are reached during a game
    
    • Individual Player Kills:
      
    • 5 kills - RAMPAGE
      
    • 10 kills - EXECUTIONER
      
    • 15 kills - MASTERFUL
      
    • 20 kills - CONQUERING
      
    • Total Team Kills:
      
    • 10 kills - KILLING SPREE
      
    • 15 kills - DOMINATING
      
    • 20 kills - UNSTOPPABLE
    • When pressing 'Ctrl + Number' to assign hotkeys to spectate particular players, the text now displays in the bottom left corner, underneath the team list
      
      • Assigning once will display the number and player
        
      • After assigning multiple times, assigned history will be displayed
        
      • Tags shown above players will now only display up to a 1km distance from the spectator, for better visibility
    • When a player has died, a skull icon will now appear in the team list
      
    • Visual improvements have been made to the HP bar

• There is an issue which causes the parachuting height in War Mode to be different from before the parachute overhaul
  
• The UI of the altimeter does not move when freefalling in training mode
  
• There is an issue that the altimeter doesn't display correctly while parachuting and the map is open
  
• Parachuting icons of teammates who have left the plane do not appear next to their name once they exit the plane

01/08/2019

• Fixed an issue where the level 3 helmet (Medieval) skin would display the level 2 helmet skin after being dropped.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused skins in the ‘eyes’ slot to not be visible when wearing specific items.
  
  • All ‘eye’ slot items will be unequipped when used together with a gas mask
• Fixed an issue where weapons would not equip properly after throwing a grenade.
  
• Fixed an issue which could cause players with throwables equipped to appear barehanded in situations where a player is experiencing high latency.
  
• Fixed an issue where the animation to equip a weapon occurs, but the weapon remains holstered.
  
• Fixed an uncommon issue which could cause standing unarmed players to appear to hold a weapon after performing specific actions.

01/01/2019

• Fixed a map issue which allowed players to get into an unintended location
  
• Fixed an issue with weapon inventory images displaying incorrectly after equipping some attachments.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused PUBG to launch in 'Fullscreen Windowed' mode even when set to Fullscreen.
  
• Fixed an issue that the character animation is stuck shoulder firing (soft-aiming) when pressing ALT and aiming at the same time.
  
• Fixed an issue where in specific circumstances the mouse cursor would unintentionally be allowed to move to another screen when using dual monitors in Fullscreen mode.
  
• Fixed an issue where destructible objects including doors would disappear after moving to a different point on the timeline in Replay/Death cam mode.

Group 5 of the Twitch streamer skins are here, featuring 8 more content creators who participated in Broadcaster Royale!



Skins are available for $4.99 each and can be purchased until December 27th at 7pm Pacific through the game client. Each sale directly benefits the Twitch streamer, so pick up your favorite skins and support them in-game and out!

This group’s streamers:

CigaretteSTV • Edberg • ewanng • fuffenz • Lil_Lexi • Lumi • Shobosuke • WackyJacky

Update: As of December 17th, 2018, Streamers will no longer be able to sell in-game items for PUBG via the PUBG Contraband Extension. The Extension will encourage viewers to purchase directly from the PUBG store within the game client. Viewers looking to support their favorite streamers can click the #BroadcasterRoyale menu in the in-game store to purchase and see all streamer items available.

This change does not impact any in-game content previously purchased, claimed or awarded on Twitch.

It has been two months since we introduced our first iteration of a Rank System in Update #22. We knew going in that this was a system you had been asking for and watched your feedback closely after its implementation. We found that players were most disappointed that climbing ranks was rather easy and even the highest ranks could be achieved through grinding and overall passive gameplay. As a result, it became clear that the prestige behind these ranks wasn’t what we had intended.

It was decided that while we work on a more appropriate system that puts the correct focus on playtime and skill, we would repurpose the existing system to highlight one of PUBG’s ultimate goals - to survive. This means the focus of improving is no longer directly about competing with other players, but rather to grow by overcoming your personal struggles in the game while honing your skills. For the coming Beta Season 2, this will take the form of Survival Titles that can be earned by gaining Survival Points during the season.

We designed the new Survival Title System so you can see how you progress, going from zero to obtaining honorable Titles through continued play while improving your skills. And while this is also a beta and can change with your feedback, here’s some more information on our thoughts and goals for the new Survival Title System in Beta Season 2.


1. Ranked System to Title System

While we work on another way to track competitive progress, we’ve discontinued the current placement system and are utilizing some of its aspects into the new Survival Title System. As stated before, the new system is based on personal growth, instead of having your placement being decided based on competition with others.

The existing Rank Point (RP) of Beta Season 1 will be changed to Survival Points (SP). Players will begin with 1 SP. If you collected RP from Beta Season 1, your RP will be soft reset and a portion of your results from the previous season will be applied as SP.

* MMR is not reset during this beta phase.*

2. Survival Title Levels



With the Survival Title System, you can obtain Titles through consistently playing the game. We’re using the same icon assets from the previous system (with a couple names changed to be more in line with survival) and adding extra stages in between each milestone below Expert. Once you reach Expert, there are no longer any divisions, but progression will be more difficult and influenced more by a higher ranking and kill count in every session.

We have also discontinued the demotion system from beta season 1, meaning once you achieve a Title, the only place to go is up (with exception to the Lone Survivor Title, detailed below)!

SP gain efficiency will be tweaked slightly between different game modes (Solo, Duo, Squad) in an effort to keep each mode fair and balanced to prevent any as being seen as the only viable way to grind SP.

3. Lone Survivor
As the top end of this system, only the top 1000 players are able to acquire the Lone Survivor Title. Once you reach the required amount of SP for Lone Survivor, you will have to continue earning SP or risk being bumped by a competitor. You will retain the Lone Survivor Title as long as you remain in the top 1000, so play well and play often to show off your prestigious title!

4. Leaderboard Improvements
The Leaderboard has been improved to highlight players who have made it to Lone Survivor. This leaderboard will be updated every 2 hours. Lone Survivor players who do not play a match for one week will be removed from the Leaderboard.

5. Title Icons in Lobby


* The above image is in development. Final details may be different.

Title emblems will be displayed in the lobby for you and your team. The emblem will be changed and displayed to reflect each mode.



* The above image is in development. Final details may be different.

We’ve added a reward system for those working their way up through the new Title System. For Beta Season 2, you will receive rewards based on the highest Title achieved during the season regardless of Mode or Perspective (FPP/TPP). Those rewards will be given out at the start of the following Season.


* The above image is in development. Final details may be different.

Novice through Survivor Titles will receive rewards as their milestones are achieved. You can check your status, which can be checked in the Title information on the “SEASON - OVERVIEW” page of the game lobby. Lone Survivors will receive the same rewards as Survivors and will only retain the Lone Survivor Title while within the top 1000.

Remember that the Title System is still in Beta. Your continued and valuable feedback will help us choose the direction of this and future systems, so let us know your thoughts on what we’re doing right or more importantly, what you’d like to see from us in the future.

To everyone who participated in Beta Season 1, we offer our sincere thanks. Season 1 ends on December 12, 2018, but there is still time to participate and share your feedback for future iterations of the system. The new Title System and Beta Season 2 will be applied to the test server on December 7, and will be released to live servers on December 19.


Thank you,

The PUBG Dev Team

Seasons Greetings!

The holiday seasons are drawing near and the battlegrounds are starting to get a bit… colder. Soon, snow will be falling and to help celebrate that time of year, we’ve got a special gift for those who spend time playing our game in December!

The Festive Beanie with Pom Pom and Red Nose will be available in a variety of different ways. First off, login during the event period and receive a 30 day version of them to wear during the month!

But wait, what kind of a holiday gift disappears? Place in the top 10 of any map or non-custom game mode ten times during the event and you’ll get permanent versions to wear all year round!

Finally, for those looking to get into the holiday spirit in other ways, a sleigh full of other holiday-themed items are now available in the store for a limited time, including an iconic white beard for the jolly price of 10,000 BP!

Please see below for event details.

Start: Dec 4th 11pm PST / Dec 5th 8am CET / Dec 5th 4pm KST
End: Dec 26th 6:59am PST / Dec 26th 3:59pm CET / Dec 26th 11:59pm KST

Login during the event period

• Reward: Festive Beanie with Pom Pom (30 days), Red Nose (30 days)
  
• Upon completion of the following mission, you will receive both items permanently!

Reach top 10 ten times during the event period in any map or game mode

• Reward: Festive Beanie with Pom Pom (Permanent), Red Nose (Permanent)
  
  
• Check out the Player Care Package system (carepackage icon) at the right top of the lobby to see event progress and claim your rewards.

Thanks and Happy Holidays!
-The PUBG Team

Hello everyone,

Since the start of the FIX PUBG campaign, the dev team at PUBG has prioritized tasks around improving core performance of the game while fixing longstanding bugs. To accomplish these tasks within our allotted time frame, all available dev resources were assigned to the campaign. However, due to several new stability issues that arose apart from FIX PUBG, we wanted to hold off on completing the campaign these last few weeks while we worked on resolving those issues. We understand that timely communication with you is important and will always look for ways we can improve. I apologize to the players on behalf of the Dev team for the postponement until now, but while we’re a little late from the posted FIX PUBG schedule, we still feel it’s important to share the results of this campaign.




At the start of the campaign, the most important elements we had in mind are as listed below. We have worked on increasing the quality of PUBG based on largely these four topics. We will go over the state of each category as well as what we still plan to improve upon.

• Provide the best gameplay experience possible through client and server performance optimization
  
• Ensure fair gameplay with more efficient anti-cheat solutions using all available means
  
• Smarter and faster matchmaking through improved matchmaking logic
  
• Fix bugs that degrade the experience while applying long-requested QOL improvements

During this campaign, one of our key goals was optimization, with the main focus on delivering a smooth and seamless gaming experience, especially in certain gameplay situations that could greatly affect your chances of winning/losing (such as early battles after parachute landings, close combat in the last Blue zone, etc.). While the overall game-wide optimizations, such as increasing normal frames, were minimal, the performance optimization for specific situations as mentioned above was quite impactful. We have analyzed the effects of our performance improvements on frame rate by using level benchmark profiling, and as the chart shows, FPS has increased in November’s build when compared to July.


Level Benchmark Profiling

To explain a little more in detail, we have optimized level streaming and decreased the burden that comes with level loading while moving. Compared to before, the average time to load 1 level has dropped significantly from 14.4 seconds to 5.6 seconds. Our work on optimizing “Physics Creation” is still ongoing and we plan to apply those fixes after running a final test around the end of December.

By optimizing game effects, we have reduced the load caused when multiple effects are activated at the same time. We have also begun optimizing frame rate drop issues on specific effects such as smoke. Environmental effects, vehicle destruction effects, hit effects and smoke effects have been improved and we are planning to add improvements on weapon related logic and effects as well.

Regarding character related optimization, we have seen unfortunate side effects caused by movement optimization, such as footstep sound bugs and desync. Of course, we place player experience as the top priority even if that means we lose out on a part of optimization. This does not mean we have given up on character movement optimization, though. We are preparing general optimization work and once it has gone through proper stability testing, we will apply it once again.



In a Dev Letter last August, we talked about server performance. As of Update #19, we have improved the early game server performance, which had the lowest performance of each match, and increased the average FPS by more than 20%, which we are happy to have maintained on similar levels.

Below you see the graph for NA’s average server FPS after Update #19.


NA’s average server FPS after Update #19

Our current goal is to maintain a server tick-rate of 30 from the start to finish of the match. As the server tick-rate increases, the actual ping time is reduced and instances of desync are also mitigated. Since it is still a hot topic in the community, we plan to continue to focus heavily on this goal.

I’d also like to explain the desync issues that occurred during the FIX PUBG campaign a little more in-depth. When the issue arose, we analyzed server logs as well as the many videos you shared with us. The strangest among the reported instances were the desync issues that occurred even with low ping. After having traced the source of this issue, we discovered that there was a bug in one of the character movement optimizations that were implemented to increase client performance. As many of you noticed, this bug has been fixed as of the November 7 patch, which has been reported to greatly reduce instances of desync for many players.

Desync can still occur and has a greater chance of happening when ping is high or there is a high variance in ping between players. This makes proper matchmaking all the more important, which I will go into in the next section. Having so many variables can sometimes make issues difficult and hard to anticipate, but we will continue our efforts to ease server related problems wherever we can to reach our 30 server frames per second goal while ensuring smooth and precise gameplay.



Below, I’ve outlined our current goals for Matchmaking.

• Provide a stable gaming environment by matching players with similar Ping.
  
• Provide a fair gaming environment by matching users with a similar skill level (in relation to MMR, not Rank).
  
• Set-up for players using the same language to be placed on the same team.
  
• Ensure large-scale play with 100 players to maximize the fun of the Battle Royale experience.
  
• Minimize wait times as best as possible while fulfilling the above requirements.

As you can see, the matchmaking in PUBG is somewhat complex, and requires quite a few variables to work how we want it to. Making a change to improve one aspect can very often lead to new problems somewhere else.

We consider the matchmaking issues that occurred after Patch #22 to be in similar nature. As outlined in our Dev Letter from last October, this problem has been largely solved, but that patch alone is not enough to find the right balance in matchmaking.

Here are the steps we’re considering to improve this.

• Provide better matchmaking queue information for all map/mode options
  
  • Let players select the best choice based on their personal judgment in regions/time zones where the matching pool is insufficient.
    
  • Ensure that maps & modes are running smoothly.

Matchmaking screen when playing in a good ping environment


Matchmaking screen when playing in a bad ping environment
*The above images are examples. Actual UI will likely be different.

We are considering a matchmaking UI overhaul so players can more easily recognize the estimated wait time for matchmaking and the current ping. With an improved matchmaking UI based on personal preferences, players will be able to play in their desired environment and game mode/map, even if matching takes a little longer. In the end, we want to provide useful information for players to judge the situation and make the choice between wait time and optimal performance themselves if the matchmaking pool doesn’t allow for both.

Of course, these improvements do not mean simply changing only the UI, but also need to be accompanied by technical aspects for support such as a function that can measure the average ping value as accurately as possible. Until we are able to provide you with the best matchmaking method, we will focus on aspects of the system we can help now.



Our fight with unauthorized programs can only be compared to a never-ending battle. Such a fight can be exhausting but we have already made great strides, banning over 2 million accounts during the FIX PUBG campaign alone. We will continue to improve system analyses and monitoring, policy, and new anti-cheat solutions, while at the same time exploring external solutions such as police investigations and legal action. While breakthroughs and improvements aren’t ever fast enough to eradicate all cheating, our mission remains the same; to never back off in the fight against unauthorized programs.

We are constantly banning unauthorized programs by analyzing and utilizing data from various logs. In addition, we are developing our own anti-cheat solution to prevent the use of unauthorized programs. We expect to have something to share on this in the near future.

For some organizations, bans and countermeasures aren’t enough to dissuade the production of these programs. In some regions, we have been able to work with local law enforcement to arrest the groups involved in the production and sale of unauthorized programs and we will continue to aid authorities in any way we can. We are also finishing preparations for hardware bans to permanently remove stubborn players who refuse to play fair. These bans will begin soon and will target players who continue to cheat on new accounts.

There is much more I can go into on this topic, but there are other things to discuss related to the FIX PUBG campaign. We will speak more on the subject of anti-cheat in a separate Dev Letter.



We began the FIX PUBG campaign with 100 bugs and QOL improvements to tackle and everything in this category has been completed. I don’t say this to ask for praise, rather we are disappointed that this list was 100 items in the first place.

From a developer’s perspective, bugs are elements that occur continuously at any time, but we understand that anything that affects your gameplay takes away from the fun you have with our game. We have put more of an emphasis on the QA process for our builds and are planning to secure even more resources for a smoother QA process.

We are always grateful for the players who take time to submit bug reports with us. In order to process these kinds of bug reports more efficiently, we are preparing a new system that enables players to submit and track the progress of bugs through a new website. We are now in the final stages and our goal is to release this before the end of the year, after running all necessary stability/functionality tests.



The direction of Xbox and PlayStation development will parallel with PC, continuing to focus on providing our console players a more refined game service to give the best experience. We'll update any other detailed information regarding future plan of PUBG on console as well.



Throughout our game’s journey, our main goal was to provide you new content quickly, while supplementing Battle Royale gameplay. We acknowledge that in this process, we have overlooked issues that matter to you and we have reflected a lot on our mistakes. Something like this requires not only considerable effort, but extra care to ensure that bugs remain fixed and do not impact anything else.

Therefore, when designing the 2019 PUBG roadmap, we’ve changed our direction from this last year. Build stability and quality are now our most important value, and upon that base we will build new Battle Royale gameplay and new content. At first, this is likely to slow down our build cadence, but as these processes become more proficient, we hope to provide new content as fast as before, while maintaining our new stability and quality-first goal. While we cannot say how long this will take, we promise you that we will give our best efforts to reach this stage as quickly as possible.

Three months have passed since the announcement of the FIX PUBG. We know there are many things to improve upon, but we do have a sense that we more accurately feel what you, the players want and need. While this is the end of the FIX PUBG campaign, we will go forward in our development, improve our processes, and redouble our efforts with the lessons learned.



As always, thank you for your continued support and passion for our game.

Hey everyone,

Earlier this month, we introduced the National PUBG League (NPL), North America’s pro league for PUBG Esports. As we move closer to Phase 1, we wanted to outline the overall structure of the league and how the season will play out. Each professional season consists of 3 phases leading up to a Global Championship. These phases are 8 weeks long and feature matches from both the NPL and an NPL Contenders tier.



The 2019 competitive season teams are broken down into two main tiers, the NPL which features the top 16 teams in the league, and the NPL Contenders tier, which houses the 16 teams challenging for a position in the NPL.

NPL matches will take place over the course of 5 weeks of each phase, with matches broadcast twice a week from OGN studios for a per-phase prize pool of $200,000. NPLC matches happen online once per week during 4 weeks of each phase, with the top teams able to fight for promotion into the NPL. More on that in the Relegation and Promotion section!

In the middle of each phase, all teams from the NPL and NPLC will duke it out in a special 1-weekend-only rumble called NPL Royale at OGN studios. This exhibition tournament has no standing on the overall season, but allows all teams to battle it out for a separate prize pool while gauging all the individual teams in the competition.



The first step in the NPL 2019 season is determining which teams will compete. Teams who wish to participate in the Online Qualifier for the preseason tournament will have to complete registration by December 7th. As a reminder, the official NPL rules state that all team members must be 18 years of age by February 1st, 2019 in order to participate in the preseason.

The Online Qualifier will be held from December 11th to December 16th on Battlefy and the top 24 teams will be invited to participate in the preseason tournament. If you wish to sign your team up to participate, you can do so here.



The action begins on January 7th with the first preseason matches to determine which teams will join each tier of competition. 32 total teams will be chosen through invitation and online qualifiers to face off live from OGN Studios for a prize pool of $100,000. More importantly, the top 16 teams will advance to the NPL where they will battle it out throughout Phase 1 of the season. The remaining 16 teams will be placed into the NPL Contenders tier, which will have opportunities for promotion into the NPL throughout the season.



At the end of each phase, the bottom 6 teams will have to fight for survival against the top 10 teams in the Contenders league to hold onto their spot in the NPL. Once the dust settles, the surviving 6 teams move into the NPL and the next phase of the season begins. This constant check and balance ensures that the best of the best are always representing the NPL and that teams who train hard won’t have to wait until a completely new season to show they can play with the big dogs.



Official game settings for the NPL are still being finalized, but for preseason we’ll be adopting the same settings being used in the PUBG Europe League qualifiers. Once official 2019 universal ruleset is finalized, we’ll be sure to share them out.

All the heart-pumping NPL action is about to get underway, so be sure to sign your teams up to participate and stay tuned for future announcements. We’ll see you on the battlegrounds!

--The PUBG Esports Team

This update to patch 23 fixes some bugs, adds a paid name change option, introduces a new customizable emote wheel with 3 new emotes available for purchase with BP and more.

• For technical testing purposes during this test server period, players will receive a name change item through the Player Care Package upon login.
  
  • This item is only available on the test server and will be distributed until Nov 20, 6pm PST / Nov 21, 3am CET / Nov 21, 11am KST.

• Replay version has been updated, replays from previous updates are no longer playable.

• The voice chat is available in the custom match before game starts.

• Improved the in-game emote system.
  
  • Added an ‘Emote’ tab in the ‘Customize’ menu.
    
  • You can add/remove emotes you own to the Emote menu for use in game.
    
  • You can also see animations of the emotes you’ve selected on the character to the right of the screen.
    
  • You can have up to 12 emotes active at a time.
• Improved item visibility when you equip items on the Appearance menu.
  
  • When you select an item in the Appearance tab, equipped items will now be hidden from the character in order to show the selected item clearly.
• Added the current region status in-game under the HP HUD.

• A paid nickname change item has been added to the store. The standard price is $9.99.
  
  • This item will be $4.99 (50% off) from November 21 to December 5.
• 2018 PKL Items (Limited 3 items) are available.
  
• You can purchase various emotes from the store using BP.
  
  • Three new emotes are currently available: ‘AIR GUITAR’, ‘DRAW!’, ‘ZAPPED’

• Improved the 3D character render to be more smooth when previewing skins or gear.

• Fixed an issue where pressing ESC while leaning would maintain the leaning stance.
  
• Fixed an issue where sometimes a character would be shown as under the ground with only their face showing while waiting in specific areas before the game starts.
  
• Fixed an issue where helmet skins applied in the lobby are sometimes delayed from appearing on looted in-game helmets.
  
• Fixed an issue where characters can’t pick up a dropped melee weapon again after dropping it on specific stairs in Erangel.
  
• Fixed an issue where grenades would sometimes damage an incorrect area.
  
• Fixed an issue that the camera angle would move into the character’s body when walking into destroyed wired-fence.
  
• Fixed an issue in the custom game that in-game team list doesn't match while switching over spectating teams with Page Up/Down keys.

These hotfixes have been applied to the live server.

• Fixed an issue where the voice channel shown was not the active one.
  
• Fixed an issue where character model was shown as the opposite gender in the store preview screen.
  
• Fixed an issue causing a game crash when other players pick up an item while you are picking up same item with specific amounts.
  
• Fixed an issue that “You can’t report yourself” message comes up when you report a player from a Replay.
  
• Fixed an issue in the custom game that the voice chat doesn’t work in the airplane after setting the voice channel as ‘All’ in the voice option.

Thanks for playing :)
- The PUBG Team


Replay

• Replay version has been updated, replays from previous updates are no longer playable.

Custom match

• The voice chat is available in the custom match before game starts.

Skin & Item

• Nickname change item is on sale for 50% off.
  
  • Discount period: 2018.11.21 - 2018.12.05
• 2018 PKL Items (Limited 3 items) are available.

Performance

• Improved the 3D character render to be more smooth when previewing skins or gear.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that the camera angle would move into the character’s body when walking into destroyed wired-fence.
  
• Fixed an issue in the custom game that in-game team list doesn't match while switching over spectating teams with Page Up/Down keys.

UI/UX

• Added the current region status in-game under the HP HUD.

Hot Fixes

• Fixed an issue that “You can’t report yourself” message comes up when you report a player from a Replay.
  
• Fixed an issue in the custom game that the voice chat doesn’t work in the airplane after setting the voice channel as ‘All’ in the voice option.

Skins & Items
This crate is now available in the live server.

• Added Ryan the Lion Crate.

Test server update
Bug Fixes
These are applied to the test server.

• Fixed an issue that causes the camera to pass through doors when moving the camera in certain situations.
  
• Fixed an issue where vehicle horns continued to sound after exiting a vehicle while holding LMB.
  
• Fixed an issue where an enemy player would appear to prone/stand up multiple times in specific situations, after proning and standing up once. 
  
• Fixed an issue with the Pan of Judgement skin preventing players from being able to completely remove the skin from their pan in-game.
  
• Fixed an issue where in certain situations the door opening/closing animations did not play when another player interacted with the door.
  
• Fixed an issue where green blood was more visible than red blood.
  
• Fixed an issue with reconnecting while in a vehicle, which would remove the player from the vehicle and upon reconnect the player model would sometimes be clipped inside the vehicle.
  
• Fixed an issue where care packages would sometimes drop outside the playable area, in the water.
  
• Fixed an issue which sometimes caused care packages to drop from the plane tilted, or flipped upside down.
  
• Fixed an issue where the lobby screen had black bars with certain aspect ratios.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue which could cause the current server region indicator to be shown as "Unknown" beneath the health bar.

Skins & Items

• Added Christmas skins
  
• The 50% off sale has ended for nickname changes, which will now be sold at the standard price of $9.99

Hey Everyone,




Group 4 of the Twitch streamer skins are here, featuring the champions of Broadcaster Royale Season 1; thz_tv and dahmien7! The two-man wrecking crew from Les Krotins battled it out and beat the odds against 80 other teams to take home the biggest Chicken Dinner of the season. You can support your winners by picking up their crates for the special price of $14.99. Each crate contains all 4 clothing items as well as their commemorative golden pans, featuring each winner’s logo.

Skins are also available individually for $4.99 each and can be purchased until December 6th at 7pm Pacific through the game client, Steam, or directly from each streamer via their Twitch channel’s extension. Each sale directly benefits the Twitch streamer, so pick up your favorite skins and support them in-game and out!

This group features skins from other Broadcaster Royale competitors as well, so read on for the full list of available items.

This group’s streamers:

dahmien7 • Edberg • NeoticaCH • thz_tv • Xaragon0731