When we first looked at Playerunknown's Battlegrounds on Xbox One, it's fair to say that we weren't hugely impressed, owing to its cut-back visuals and remarkably low frame-rates. And with that in mind, the basic concept of the game being adapted for iOS and Android seems almost outlandish. But here's the thing: as compromised as it is, the mobile port works and in fact, the sometimes brutal cuts are essential in actually making the game playable in handheld form on a relatively tiny smartphone screen. And in turn, this may offer up some idea of how - in time - the PUBG Corporation could bring the game to Nintendo Switch.
Ian's already taken a look at the game running under iOS - on a vintage 2014 iPhone 6, no less - but we wanted to push harder, so we deployed the game on two high-end Android devices: the Samsung Galaxy S8 (specifically, the version using the Samsung Exynos 8895) and the Razer Phone, based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 processor. PUBG actually ships with three quality presets designed to match the game's visuals to the capabilities of your hardware, and curiously, it also has three selectable frame-rate targets. It's difficult to figure this out because the title is currently available in China only and has no English text, but we've included a settings breakdown in our video embedded below.
The good news is that actually getting the game installed (freely and legally) is a piece of cake, and Eurogamer has a full install guide right here. Just be aware that the servers are geared towards an audience located elsewhere on the globe, so your ping may be high and PUBG's notorious rubber-banding and micro-teleporting may be more pronounced than you would expect.
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