Jun 20, 2018

PUBG compensates wrongly banned players with 20,000 BP

PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS

After a flurry of unwarranted bans, PlayerUnknown's Battleground developer PUBG Corp will grant those affected with a "small compensation" of 20,000 Battle Points (BP).

"As you know, one of our highest priorities is working towards eliminating hackers and cheaters from PUBG," explains the dev in this Steam Community update. "We’ve made great strides in this area recently, but unfortunately sometimes we get it wrong, which was the case recently when a number of players were improperly banned and were unable to access the game for a period of time."

The developer promises to continue its cheat detection and prevention work, and asks for the community's patience in the "few occasions" where false bans occur.

The post continues: "For those players who were affected, we will be granting a small compensation of 20,000 BP to your accounts. Compensation should already be showing up in affected players accounts. Please check below for full details on which accounts are eligible to receive this compensation.

"We apologize for anyone who missed out on game time due to this error and hope that this compensation helps make up for that lost time."

PUBG Corp concludes by identifying affected players as those wrongfully banned by internal ban detection failures, and/or those who "logged into the 3.8.38.15 version between June 16, 11am—1:30pm PDT / June 16, 8pm—10:30pm CEST / June 17, 3am—5:30am KST."

If you were affected by the false bans, let us know about it in the comments below. Here's a rundown of both the Wanderer and Survivor crate contents, which might measure how you spend your 20K BP.

Jun 20, 2018

Compensation for False Bans

PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS - MephieKim

As you know, one of our highest priorities is working towards eliminating hackers and cheaters from PUBG. We’ve made great strides in this area recently, but unfortunately sometimes we get it wrong, which was the case recently when a number of players were improperly banned and were unable to access the game for a period of time.

While we will continually work to improve these cheat detection methods, we ask for your patience on the hopefully few occasions where a false ban happens.

For those players who were affected, we will be granting a small compensation of 20,000 BP to your accounts. Compensation should already be showing up in affected players accounts. Please check below for full details on which accounts are eligible to receive this compensation. We apologize for anyone who missed out on game time due to this error and hope that this compensation helps make up for that lost time.

Bans will be removed and compensation will be provided for players that meet the following conditions:

Logged into the 3.8.38.15 version between June 16, 11am - 1:30pm PDT / June 16, 8pm - 10:30pm CEST / June 17, 3am - 5:30am KST
Were wrongfully banned due to internal ban detection logic

Jun 20, 2018

PUBG announces 'Event Pass' progression and reward system

PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS

For the first time, PUBG is on sale on Steam. In celebration of combined Xbox and PC sales of "over 50 million units worldwide", the battle royale has a 33 percent discount from now through July 5.

Ahead of its Sanhok map launch this Friday, PUBG Corp has now also unveiled its 'Event Pass'—a "trackable progression-related system" that lets players unlock new content "in a way that is different from the crate and key system." It'll be rolled out alongside Sanhok on June 22.

In this lengthy Steam Community update, the developer explains that it once considered charging for DLC—"including new maps"—but decided not to divide its players. Instead, the Event Pass lets paying players unlock items on a permanent basis over those who don't.

"The Event Pass is designed to reflect the opinions of players who wanted a trackable progression-related system, and at the same time allows you to unlock new content in PUBG in a way that is different from the crate and key system," explains PUBG Corp here. "Just like the crate and key system, you’ll be able to get rewards in the Event Pass system regardless of whether you made a purchase."

The post adds: "If you haven’t paid for the pass, you can temporarily unlock many of the items (and earn one special item permanently). However, you can also permanently unlock a ton of exclusive reward items by paying to unlock the pass and completing certain missions to 'level up' your pass.

"If you’re hesitant about buying the Pass, but want to play the missions, you’re free to do that. And your mission progress is always tracked, so you can buy the Event Pass late in the event and still get all the rewards you’ve earned."

PUBG Corp says the first Event Pass is Sanhok themed, lasts about four weeks, and includes dozens of daily, weekly and Sanhok-specific missions. Rewards are unlocked by completing missions and levelling up—however these will not be tradable or marketable. "Only those of you who really earn them will get to show them off in-game," adds the dev.

PUBG Corp says more information on the first Event Pass will surface before Sanhok's launch on Friday.

Jun 19, 2018

Dev Letter: A New Way To Unlock Rewards

PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS - RKRigney

Hi everyone,

Today we want to tell you about something new we’ve prepared just in time for Sanhok’s release: a new way to unlock new content in PUBG. We’ll reveal all the details very soon, but first we want to share some context and information about how we think about premium content.

Since the beginning, we’ve thought a lot about ways to allow you to unlock content in meaningful ways. To start, we tried to establish a cosmetic market based on scarcity by introducing crate and key system. This model allows all players to get reward items regardless of whether they made a purchase or not, resell unwanted crates/items back to the marketplace and acquire items or add funds to your Steam Wallet without ever using cash payment methods.

The goal was to provide a fun system outside of the main game experience through item trading. We also designed the system to be useful for you whether you’re willing or unwilling to make a purchase. We especially liked that the crate and key system can feel extremely satisfying whenever you unlock rare items. However, to make certain items really rare and valuable, we’ve had to regulate the supply of items, making high tier items very rare. As a result, many of you can’t get the items you want instantly, and even though you’ve invested more money into the system, it can be pretty difficult to get the items you want.

This type of market model still has its own values. However, our team’s goal is to not stop here, but to keep experimenting with new systems and new content. To this end, around the release of the PC 1.0 version last year, we had a lot on our mind.

At one point, we actually considered the option of releasing new content in paid DLC format, including new maps. However, we came to understand that this method has some critical drawbacks. Mainly, it divides the entire player base into separate groups depending on whether they’ve purchased map DLC. It would also keep a huge portion of players from enjoying the biggest additions to the game. As such, at The Game Awards 2017, we promised that all battle royale maps will be provided to all of our players for free, not as DLC.

Then, while designing and developing Sanhok, we began to explore how to offer premium content in new ways, without limiting it to DLC. We wanted to create a whole new gameplay and reward experience. Ultimately, we decided to go with a new system: the “Event Pass.” It’ll be made available on June 22, the same day Sanhok hits live servers.

The Event Pass is designed to reflect the opinions of players who wanted a trackable progression-related system, and at the same time allows you to unlock new content in PUBG in a way that is different from the crate and key system.

Just like the crate and key system, you’ll be able to get rewards in the Event Pass system regardless of whether you made a purchase. If you haven’t paid for the pass, you can temporarily unlock many of the items (and earn one special item permanently). However, you can also permanently unlock a ton of exclusive reward items by paying to unlock the pass and completing certain missions to “level up” your pass. If you’re hesitant about buying the Pass, but want to play the missions, you’re free to do that. And your mission progress is always tracked, so you can buy the Event Pass late in the event and still get all the rewards you’ve earned.

This first Event Pass is all about celebrating the launch of Sanhok, so it includes an item set that fits the map Sanhok thematically. The Event Pass will last for about four weeks, and it includes dozens of missions, including daily missions, weekly missions, and Sanhok-specific missions. By completing missions and leveling up, you’ll unlock rewards. These rewards won’t be tradable or marketable, so only those of you who really earn them will get to show them off in-game.

One more thing: simply by playing and completing missions while they’re available, you’ll be able to unlock one free chance to change your in-game PUBG name.

We’ll share more about missions and level-up rewards before Sanhok hits the live servers.

Please give us your feedback on the Event Season and Pass so we can keep improving PUBG. Our top priorities will continue to be optimizing performance, fixing bugs, and eradicating cheat programs.While our Platform, Engineering, and Anti-Cheat teams are focusing on these areas, we’ll keep meeting players’ needs for new experiences, rewards, and surprising new features.

As always, thanks for playing.

Love,
Your friends at PUBG Corp.

Jun 19, 2018

For the first time, PUBG is on sale on Steam

PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has been $30 on Steam since its Early Access release in March of 2017. It didn't participate in any seasonal Steam sales, or run special promotions of its own. It never needed to, having sold millions of copies in just over a year, but now for the first time ever, PUBG is 33 percent off on Steam, bringing it to $20 (or £18.08).

In the sale announcement post, PUBG Corp says that the game's combined Xbox and PC sales now total "over 50 million units worldwide." Include mobile players, and "over 87 million people play PUBG every day," it added.

The promotion lasts until July 5, and coincides with Friday's big patch, which will add the new 4 km x 4 km Sanhok map and a Sanhok-exclusive gun, the QBZ95 assault rifle, which replaces the SCAR-L on that map. The update is currently live on the test server, where Sanhok is accessible through the Mini Royale playlist. The other two maps, Erangel and Miramar, are grouped into the standard Battle Royale playlist.

The update also includes bug fixes, UI changes, performance adjustments, and a couple gameplay updates. Accuracy modifiers will no longer be instantaneous, meaning that you must complete an action like aiming down sights before you get the full accuracy benefit. Additionally, winners will now get several seconds to celebrate their chicken dinners before the game ends.

The Sanhok update will graduate from the test server this week, on June 22. You can read the full patch notes here.

Jun 19, 2018

Announcing a Big Milestone + Our First Ever Steam Sale

PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS - RKRigney

Today we’ve got a very big announcement: With Xbox and PC sales combined, PUBG has now sold over 50 million units worldwide. With PUBG Mobile included, there are now over 400 million registered PUBG players worldwide. Over 87 million people play PUBG every day across all our platforms.

To celebrate these new milestones, we’re putting PUBG on sale on Steam from June 19th (later today!) through July 5th. If you want to pick up the game for the first time or gift it to a friend, you’ll be able to grab it for just $19.99 (33.33% off the normal price).

We’re genuinely humbled by PUBG’s ongoing success and growth, and we’re incredibly optimistic about the game’s future. We’re going to keep working on new content and improvements for all versions of the game. We know there’s still so much we can do to make PUBG a better game for our players.

Thanks so much to all of you for joining us on this wild ride.