During a panel at GDC all about the interesting metrics SteamSpy spits out, creator and owner Sergey Galyonkin (also Head of Publishing for Eastern Europe at Epic Games) shared all sorts of data scraped from the public-facing user profiles of Steam. 

One of the most interesting tidbits was that Chinese players spend over twice as many hours a week playing PUBG than US players. That’s China’s average of 16 hours to the USA’s measly, pathetic, embarrassing 7 hours.

The disparity can partially be attributed to SteamSpy’s assertion that around 78% of Steam users in China own PUBG, meaning it’s their main jam (at least on Steam). US Steam users own six times more games than the average Chinese user too, which could mean US players are splitting their time between more games while the Chinese players are dedicated to PUBG on Steam. 

The popularity of internet cafes in China is also important to take into account. With profiles tied to each computer, a stream of customers playing on the same profiles could be buffing the weekly average. But the only fact is that we can’t, and never will, determine exactly why there’s such a split. Theory is all we have, and my theory is that the US players need to quit their day jobs and pick up the damn pace already! Mars can wait. 

Keep in mind that SteamSpy’s data is not completely accurate. It collects data once a day from public Steam profiles based on the Web API provided by Valve. Because a small percentage of profiles are private (99.9% are public according to Galyonkin) and the Valve Web API servers don’t work as they should, be sure to approach all of SteamSpy’s data with a grain of salt. 

The margins of error are explained in detail by Galyonkin on SteamSpy, but the basic idea is that the the more a game sells, the more reliable the data. The less a game sells, the less reliable.  

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is getting an Event Mode, which developer PUBG Corp describes as "a periodically changing preset Custom Game where we will be trying new things and experimenting with different game parameters." It sounds a bit like Fortnite's themed, limited-time offerings. 

But before we talk about that, let's talk about flare guns. "We would like to reveal one of the features that will be included in our next iteration," so reads this Steam Community update post ahead of the following image:

Flare guns. But what will they be used for? Alerting teammates to your location? Distracting enemies while your pals get the drop on 'em? Calling in supply drops? Questions, questions. 

Okay, back to the Event Mode. These unranked exhibitions will be experimental in nature (although will provide BP) and stand apart from public matches. Starting off simple, the new initiative's debut will boost squad numbers from four to eight and will double the drop rate of rifles.   

"Please keep in mind that the first iteration will only feature TPP on Erangel to ensure effective matchmaking," explains the developer. "Anyone who owns a copy of PUBG can enjoy the Event Mode. To play in the Event Mode, please use the relevant UI in the bottom left of the main menu."

No hard release date for any of this just yet, but PUBG Corp expects to move from test to live servers soon. 

Above: our video preview of PUBG Mobile running on a Google Pixel.

The battle royale infection has spread to mobile platforms much more quickly than we could ever have expected. Within a week, Fortnite's mobile version skyrocketed to the top of the iOS app store, nabbing nearly $1.5 million in the process. And PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is now officially in the race. After a soft-launch in Canada earlier this week, the free-to-play mobile port is now available on iOS and Android app stores in the US.

If you're curious about trying it out (and, honestly, why wouldn't you be?), you can watch the video above to see my impressions after playing for an afternoon on my Google Pixel. It's a surprisingly faithful port that doesn't sacrifice any of the central pillars of PUBG's combat—it's still 100 players, still has a giant blue circle that pushes everyone inward, and it's still intense as hell.

That said, playing a shooter on a phone is never a perfect experience. The controls are going to be the biggest obstacle, even though PUBG Mobile does some really smart things with its user interface to make it work better on a phone. But no matter how easy managing your inventory now is, aiming is still a real pain in the ass.

If you're on iOS, you can head over to the app store to download it and give it a whirl. Android users can find it on Google's Play Store. It's free and relatively small (well under a gigabyte in size), so it's a great way to kill an afternoon.

If you've already given it a try, let us know what you think.

Sonny Evans' tongue-in-cheek Attenborough-esque nature documentaries span GTA 5, Battlefield 1, Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. They're lighthearted and silly and good fun—with the latter leveraging PUBG's new-ish replay system to great effect. 

The Camper casts its lens over one of my own favourite playstyles, as it explores the benefits of hiding in bushes, beneath bridges and under parked cars. Described as "the scourge" of PUBG, Evans posits "the goal of this creature is to be a general nuisance." How dare he. (He's not wrong.) 

When I spoke to Evans following the launch of his first PUBG Nat Geo doc, he told me that despite the limitations of the game's replay system—so far as performance culture is concerned—it has potential to spin more tales of this kind. I love the work coming from GTA 5 in this vein, so I hope and encourage more players to pick up the mantle here. 

If you like the above, Evans has singled out The Stunters in GTA 5, The Noobs of Fortnite, and The Tanks of Battlefield 1. Check out his full catalogue over here.