Update #14 brought some big upgrades to throwables, introduced the M24 rifle to the world’s weapon spawn pool, and (most importantly) implemented a few clutch performance improvements. There are still many more performance improvements in the works—expect to see more make their way over to live servers in update #15.
Today, though, we want to take a quick look back at the four testing rounds we ran for Sanhok, our 4km x 4km map which is coming to live servers on June 22.
From all of us at PUBG Corporation, thanks so much to all of you who participated in the four rounds of testing we conducted on Sanhok.
This was an experiment for us. We let you explore the map while many of its textures and structures were in a pre-alpha—in many ways it was a return to our Early Access roots, working hand-in-hand with the community to build the map together.
An early stage image of Sanhok
We’re especially grateful to all of you who reported bugs and shared your opinions about how we could make the map better. The feedback you gave us meaningfully changed the way we designed so many details of the map.
ON SANHOK’S LAUNCH AND FUTURE
We’ve got more surprises in store for the Sanhok launch, but there are two topics we’d like to discuss early, so you guys aren’t surprised when the map hits live servers.
The first topic is an update to the way map selection works. When we first announced map selection, we said “we’ll still have to keep a close eye on it, since it could become problematic as new maps continue to be added.”
It’s now become clear to us that these concerns were justified, and we’ve decided that we can’t support individual map selection for more than two maps. This is because map selection creates an essentially exponential increase in the number of total separate queues when combined with other queue options like party size and perspective. That means the matchmaking pool gets split into many small sections, making it nearly impossible to put together a match in at least some of those queues.
We still want to make sure that players can play on Sanhok without any hassle, especially given that it’s an exciting new map. So, at least for now, we’re going to launch Sanhok as its own queue, with Miramar and Erangel bundled together in a separate queue. That means that in the new UI, you’ll be able to queue up for Sanhok by itself, or Erangel + Miramar together. Choosing both queues means you’ll randomly be dropped into one of the three maps currently in the game.
As we announced at E3 this week, we’ll continue to add new maps. Our current thinking is that maps will be added separately to one or the other queues, but it’s possible we’ll change our plans as we learn more.
The second topic is a little surprise about the way Sanhok’s matchmaking will work. We want Sanhok to feel like a truly chaotic, different gaming experience. For that reason, there will be no MMR-based matchmaking when you play on Sanhok. Although career stats will still be recorded, your performance on Sanhok won’t affect your MMR at all.
When you drop into a game, you’ll be battling it out against both the world’s best players and… well... let’s just say players with “lots of potential for growth.”
That’s all for now! We can’t wait to share more about Sanhok soon.
For a quick stroll down memory lane, check out the links below to see how Sanhok changed throughout the testing period:
We’re full-steam ahead with preparations for the launch of our new map (Sanhok’s coming June 22), so this week we’re bringing back War Mode: One Shot, One Kill. We’ll keep making tweaks to War Mode in future releases, but for now, this version is exactly the same as last time.
Full event details below:
EVENT SCHEDULE
STARTS: June 14, 7pm PDT / June 15, 4am CEST / June 15, 11am KST
ENDS: June 17, 7pm PDT / June 18, 4am CEST / June 18, 11am KST
AVAILABLE QUEUES
Three 10-man squads fight on Erangel (All Regions)
NA/EU/AS: TPP & FPP
KR/JP/SA/SEA/OC: TPP
WAR MODE - ONE SHOT, ONE KILL EVENT RULES
Each match takes place inside a small, static safe zone
All players spawn with a ghillie suit, a Kar98k with a 4x scope, a handgun, and one frag grenade
When taking lethal damage, you'll die instantly instead of being knocked
Eliminating an enemy earns your team 3 points
Killed players respawn in planes that fly by every 40 seconds
The first team to reach 150 points wins
If no team reaches 150 points after 15 minutes, the team with the most points wins
The ballistic shield is a new tool for setting up cover points for when you’re in otherwise exposed territory. It can be used simultaneously with sidearms, smgs, melee weapons, and throwable grenades.
The shield takes a primary weapon slot, and is especially powerful in squad-based combat. Shield-bearers can act as the vanguard for their team, pushing forward under cover while their teammates safely attack and move forward into better positions.
The ballistic shield will first be introduced in War Mode for PC and Xbox later this year.
This map is currently very early in development, and we’re aiming to bring it to both PC and Xbox One this winter. Expect to see some new mechanics built around the snowy terrain.
Soon we’ll also have more news about our fast-approaching third map, Sanhok. We’re proud to announce that it’ll come to PC on June 22, and to Xbox in late summer 2018.
Hi everyone, Next month, 20 professional teams from around the world will compete for a total of $2 million in prizes and the ultimate PUBG bragging rights. Right now, teams are battling it out in regional qualifiers to win a place in at the PUBG Global Invitational 2018 (PGI 2018).
Today, we would like to introduce the two winners of the Chinese qualifiers: OMG, the winner of the FPP competition, and 4AM, the winner of the TPP qualifier.
These players have bested hundreds of competitors to earn their tickets to PGI.
Please share some love for OMG and 4AM when they arrive in Germany to compete in the finals, taking place July 25 through July 29 in the Mercedes-Benz Arena Berlin.
We will keep you updated with the new qualifiers from other regions, including KR, NA, EU, broader Asia, etc. For more info, check out the PGI homepage.
It’s time to practice those headshots. War Mode is back, and this time it’s all Kar98ks (and handguns, for when things go sideways). The rules are a little spicier this time as well, because everyone dies instantly when knocked.
Full event details below:
EVENT SCHEDULE
STARTS: June 7, 10pm PDT / June 8, 7am CEST / June 8, 2pm KST ENDS: June 10, 11pm PDT / June 11, 8am CEST / June 11, 3pm KST
AVAILABLE QUEUES
Three 10-man squads fight on Erangel (All Regions) NA/EU/AS: TPP & FPP KR/JP/SA/SEA/OC: TPP
WAR MODE - ONE SHOT, ONE KILL EVENT RULES
Each match takes place inside a small, static safe zone
All players spawn with a ghillie suit, a Kar98k with a 4x scope, a handgun, and one frag grenade
When taking lethal damage, you'll die instantly instead of being knocked
Eliminating an enemy earns your team 3 points
Killed players respawn in planes that fly by every 40 seconds
The first team to reach 150 points wins
If no team reaches 150 points after 15 minutes, the team with the most points wins
The most recent round of Sanhok testing has turned up some interesting performance problems which we’re still working on solving.
We’ve identified an issue where unnecessary packets are transferred from the client to the server, which causes excess load and dips in server performance.
Currently, the distance in which players are rendered is up to a maximum radius of 1km from your current position. As Sanhok is 1/4th the size of Erangel and Miramar, the number of players within this 1km area is generally much higher.
Some performance issues have arisen due to this, with the direct result being a reduced server frame speed, which leads to early-game server performance issues, including player teleporting or stuttering. According to our internal data, the kill rate at extremely long distances is very low and therefore we’ve decided to reduce the maximum player render distance specifically on Sanhok, which will increase performance.
We’ll be implementing these changes in an upcoming patch. We’ll keep you updated and make an announcement once we’ve finalized the patch schedule.
So we can be sure to get Sanhok into the best shape possible, we’re extending the testing schedule one more time. It’ll now run until Monday, June 11th (all regions).
New schedule and specific times below:
OPEN: May 31, 7pm PDT / June 1, 4am CEST / June 1, 11am KST CLOSE: June 11, 4am PDT / June 11, 1pm CEST / June 11, 8pm KST
Thanks to all of you out there testing Sanhok! Please keep your feedback coming.
Many of you may be wondering why the Aviator Crate, which was released on May 16, is still unmarketable on Steam. Our current plan is to lift market restrictions on the Aviator Crate on June 13, 8pm PDT / June 14, 5am CEST / June 14, 12pm KST.
Previous crates (like the Equinox Crate) were unmarketable for a shorter amount of time, but we’ve seen this cause somewhat abusive behavior of the market system—especially in the form of jacked-up prices for rare items. We believe that implementing slightly longer market restriction times will help alleviate this issue.
Thanks for understanding! We’ll keep you updated as we continue to make improvements to our market rules and systems.
The issue preventing these crates from being delivered immediately after purchase has been resolved.
Please see the bottom of this post for troubleshooting steps if your purchased crate hasn't been delivered.
UPDATE (6/5/2018)
We’ve become aware of a couple of issues preventing these crates from being delivered after purchase, and we’re working on a fix. We’ll post another update here once the problem has been addressed. In the meantime, we’ve added some links to the FAQ section of this post to help out players who’ve encountered the issue. __________________________
Starting on June 4, you’ll be able to show your support for two of PUBG’s most legendary content creators by equipping their custom-designed weapon skins in game.
Get Shroud’s Ghosted Crate, purchasable directly on Twitch or on Steam for $9.99. Crate is guaranteed to contain:
Ghosted – AKM
Ghosted – KAR98K
Get DrDisRespect’s Speed & Momentum Crate, also purchasable directly on Twitch or on Steam for $9.99. Crate is guaranteed to contain:
Speed & Momentum – M416
Speed & Momentum – KAR98K
We worked closely with Dr. DisRespect and Shroud to design these weapon skins. It’s a true partnership between them and PUBG Corp, and we’re thrilled that these creators will get a share of the profits every time a fan buys one of these new crates.
Content creators from around the world have been fundamental to the success of PUBG. We want to celebrate that, and this is just one of many ways we’ll be doing it going forward.
For more info on how to get the skins, check out the FAQ below!
FAQ
How do I unlock the skins? The two weapon skin bundles will only be available through Twitch or on Steam. (More details to come)
How long will the skins be available for sale? The skins will only be purchasable during the month of June: June 4 – June 30.
Will these be marketable on the Steam community market? No, not according to our current plans. We’ll update you if we change this plan.
Are you considering doing partnerships like this with more streamers in the future? We’re definitely open to it. We love content creators that support PUBG, and we’re actively experimenting with more ways to partner up.
Can I purchase more than one set of each crate? Nope. Each account is limited to one purchase of each of the crates (to be super clear: you can buy both, just not more than one of each).
How do I get these skins through Twitch? You’ll need to link your PUBG account with Twitch by clicking the Twitch logo in the PUBG game main menu. Then follow these instructions.
TROUBLESHOOTING
I’ve been having issues with these crates. Help please! If you purchased the crates through Twitch, and have not yet received them, please unlink and then relink your Twitch account by pressing the Twitch button on the main PUBG lobby screen.
If you purchased directly through Steam or in-game, any issues with crate delivery should be automatically resolved within 15 minutes. If you're still having issues with your purchase, please contact steam directly through this link
Sanhok testing is now live on the “PUBG: Experimental Server.” If you own a copy of PUBG, you can find the Experimental Server in your Steam library right now.
For information on what’s changed since Sanhok’s last appearance on test servers, check out the latest patch notes.