Hi everyone,

Update #28 is now available on live servers!

PUBG’s latest update introduces our brand new feature Weapon Mastery! Weapon Mastery is a progression system that allows players to earn free rewards as they level up their gunplay skills. As part of Weapon Mastery we are also debuting Medals for players who perform awesome feats during their matches.

In addition to our latest feature, we’ve taken your feedback from our first round of Erangel loot rebalances and made adjustments. Speaking of adjustments, based on player feedback we have reduced the difficulty on a number of missions for Survivor Pass 3: Wild Card, including the elimination of a few missions deemed too difficult to complete.

There are a number of updates to how you can interact with items in the store, interface improvements for squads and over two dozen bug fixes.

Read on for more details on all of the changes and improvements.

05/01/2019

• Reverted Update #28 changes which applied borderless while in the lobby, when the selected Display-Mode setting was set to fullscreen
  
• Fixed an issue where lower resolutions would not stretch correctly
  
• Fixed a hitching issue in the early stages of a match
  
• Fixed an issue where players could create an additional floating charm
  
• Fixed a character model issue when using emotes while rotating the mouse in FPP
  
• Fixed an issue with Anti-Aliasing & Post-Processing on lower performance PCs
  
• Fixed an issue where the text for the PCL jacket was incorrect

Weapon Mastery has been added, a new feature that allows players to check their gun stats and earn rewards based on their skills!

• New Progression System
  • Weapon Mastery is a new progression system where players can increase levels by gaining weapon XP based on players’ weapon use.
  • It operates all the time without being affected by seasons.
  • Weapon Mastery offers 100 levels for players to achieve per weapon.
  • In the lobby, players can check their weapon use information, last match results, and the rewards they acquired thus far through the newly created Mastery tab.
• Weapon Mastery Rewards
  • There are three types of Weapon Mastery rewards. These rewards can only be acquired through Mastery achievement.
    • Charms
    • Charms are accessories that can be equipped to weapons.
    • New charm can achieved at every five levels of progression per weapon.
    • Charms can be used with any weapon skins.
      • Acquired charms can be equipped/unlocked in the rewards page. Equipped charms can be seen in-game.
    • Charms cannot be traded, sold, or exchanged for BP.
  • Medals
    • Medals highlight awesome accomplishments players perform with their weapons.
    • Each medal can be earned multiple times. There is even a counter that tracks how many medals have been achieved.
  • Tier Emblems
    • Players can earn emblems equivalent to their level brackets achieved per each weapon.
    • Up to 10 tiers can be achieved.
• How to earn Weapon XP
  • Weapon XP for is earned when one or more of the following elements is satisfied during a match.
    • Damage
    • Headshots
    • Defeats
      • Defeats is a new term used for tracking actions that includes knockdowns, killing the last member of a team and killing solo players.
      • You can acquire extra weapon XP based on distance of defeats.
    • When earning Weapon XP, the amount received will increase based on how long you survived.
  • Defeats follow the existing judgment rules for DBNO/Kills currently used in the game.
    • Additional information:
    • Weapon Mastery does not count friendly fire/team damage.
    • Weapon Mastery does not count downs caused by road kills or environmental factors (blue zone, red zone, fall damage, or drowning).
    • Weapon Mastery does not count throwables or melee damage.
    • Total defeats for each weapon can be found on the Weapons tab under Mastery.
  • There is a maximum limit on each weapon that can be getting weapon XP.

For more information about Weapon Mastery, please read Introducing: Weapon Mastery.

A second round of Erangel loot rebalances has been made, as well as improvements to some sounds and effects related to gameplay.

Erangel 2nd Loot Rebalance

As we have spoken previously in our Dev Letter: Erangel Loot Rebalance, we are constantly analyzing player feedback, play patterns and other data. With this update, we’re implementing a second round of changes to improve the player looting experience on Erangel.

• The total amount of items spawned in Erangel has been increased by approximately 28%.
• Increased the overall amount of items spawned, especially the spawn rates of those higher priority items.
  • Spawn rate of AR has been increased by approx 64%.
  • Spawn rate of DMR has been increased by approx 114%.
  • Spawn rate of SR has been increased by approx 177%.
  • Spawn rates of equipment and armor have been slightly increased, especially level 2.
  • Spawn rates of healing items have been slightly increased.

Erangel Blue Zone Rebalance Test (TEST SERVER ONLY)

• During this test server phase, we’ll be testing some changes to the blue zone on Erangel. At this stage, these changes are purely experimental and we’re looking for feedback to understand how players feel about the direction of the changes.
• There is no expected date or certainty that these changes will come to live servers, but we greatly appreciate and are looking forward to your feedback as we experiment with the blue zone changes specifically on the test server this week.

SR Damage Multiplier Changes

• Decreased the damage modifier of SR shots to the torso from 150% to 130%.
• Decreased the base damage of the AWM from 120 to 105.
  • The AWM will no-longer kill full health players wearing a level 2 vest in one shot with these changes.

Sound Improvements

• We’ve now added more sounds for item interactions.
  • Previously items were looted, dropped, equipped and unequipped, some items had the same sound effects regardless of the characteristics of each item. Sounds will now vary more between items.
• Added vehicle suspension sounds.
  • Sounds of moving vehicles’ suspension working can now be heard.
  • Different sounds will be played in different situations. Vehicles moving on rough terrain or when landing from a jump will make unique sounds.
  • Suspension sound volume is different between TPP and FPP.

Smoke Grenade Improvement

• Smoke grenades are now more accurately synchronized across all players and observers.
  • Previously, smoke grenade duration for the viewer would start when coming into viewable range (1 km) of the smoke grenade. Smoke grenade plumes will now end at the same time for all players/observers.

Vehicles Effects Improvement

• Added vehicle lighting effects.
  • Vehicle headlights, tail lights and dashboard are turned on when the vehicle’s engine starts.
  • The lights are only local visual effects and will not illuminate the surrounding areas.

Open/Close Doors Animation Improvement

• Improved the algorithm to determine when vehicles are blocking doors, preventing them from opening or closing.

World

• Removed some inner doors from select buildings on Erangel to improve ease of movement during gameplay.

After the launch of the Survivor Pass 3: Wild Card, we’ve been continuously collecting and analyzing mission result data. Additionally, we’ve been actively reviewing players feedback regarding specific mission difficulty. We have chosen to adjust and remove some missions which players found too difficult to complete.

• Daily Missions: Decreased the difficulty of 16 missions and deleted 4 missions which were too difficult.
• Weekly Missions: Decreased the difficulty of 16 missions and deleted 6 missions which were too difficult.
• Challenge Missions: Decreased the difficulty of 5 missions.

Store UI Overhaul

• Added Zoom in/out feature to item previews.
  • Use mouse scroll to zoom in/out of the part where the mouse cursor is pointing.
  • When zooming on the character, character UI is shown on the bottom right.
    • You can zoom in to 4 different parts (Head, Torso, Lower body, Feet).
    • Zoomed in parts are highlighted in the character UI.
    • Click on different parts of the character model to select a view of that part (Head, Torso, Lower body, Feet).
  • Horizontal rotations are now enabled in weapon and equipment previews.
  • Release the mouse button during weapon or equipment preview to reset the camera view.

Team UI Overhaul

• Teammates boost gauges are now in the team UI visible while playing to enhance team play.

Survivor Title Season 3 Overview UI Improvements

• Season reward chart now shows 4 stages of rewards instead of 3.

• Additional UI has been added which shows points required for the next title.

• Optimized performance to decrease the time it takes to load into matches.

Observer Feature Improvements

• Kill message improvements
  • To prevent confusion and distinguish individual messages from team messages, the existing individual multi-kill messages (RAMPAGE / EXECUTIONER / MASTERFUL / CONQUERING) have been removed to focus on the number of kills.
  • Team Multi-kill messages will remain the same.
  • The images for team multi-kill messages are now each shown with a separate image.
  

Added timer UI for Smoke Grenades while Observing

• To show the remaining time for the smoke grenades, each smoke will now have a timer UI showing the remaining smoke plume duration.
• The smoke timer lasts for about 40 seconds starting from the moment the smoke grenade plumes.
• When the timer hits approx. 20% remaining, the UI turns red and the icon shakes.
  • When the timer hits 10% remaining, the icon shakes x2 as hard.
• The timer UI disappears when the spectator is farther than 100 m.
• The transparency of the UI changes depending on the distance.

Restored Kick Player Function

• Observers can find the KICK button by right-clicking a player’s name on the player list. Click the left mouse on kick button to remove the player from the game.
  • Players can be kicked in the middle of a game.

• In the replay feature, click right mouse button to toggle the REPORT button. Click the left mouse button again to report a player.
• The replay feature version has been updated. Existing replays recorded prior to this update are no longer playable.

• The PUBG 2nd Anniversary Cap will no longer be available after April 24th (KST) / April 23th(PDT).
  • This is a free 2nd anniversary item, so don’t forget to redeem it within the availability period!
• Item sales for FACEIT Global Summit Hoodies and Mask will end on April 24th( KST) / April 23th (PDT).
  • 25% of the item’s revenue goes to the teams participating in FACEIT Global Summit, support the teams by purchasing these items!
• Redesigned and made improvements to the afro hairstyle and short curly hairstyle.

World

• Fixed an issue with some barbed wire fences blocking bullets.
• Fixed an issue where players are unable to pick up items that are placed under broken barbed wire fences.

General

• Fixed the issue with center screen DBNO and kill messages being delayed.
• Fixed the issue with interaction UI remaining in spectator screen when is killed during interaction UI activated.
• Fixed the issue with certain maneuver could prevent motorcycles from flipping.
• Fixed the issue where the character would continue moving when system menu was opened while driving or freefalling.
• Fixed an issue with different UAZ model variants having different maximum speeds.
• Fixed the awkward character movement when using an emote and rotating the mouse in FPP view.
• Fixed the issue with a frag grenade ground burn mark textures overlapping the player character’s model
• Fixed an issue where only one side of footsteps is output in certain situations.
• Fixed an issue which would remove player’s hair completely when equipping caps.
• Fixed a visual issue when punk knuckle gloves were equipped.
• Fixed a visual issue preventing belts from being visible when wearing a fur coat.
• Fixed an issue where character’s hair and face overlap when a female character equips specific hair styles and caps.
• Fixed a visual issue with shadows displaying incorrectly when swimming in FPP.
• Fixed a replay issue causing explosion effects to continue when moving through the timeline.
• Fixed an issue where players are unable to revive their teammates if casting UI freezes at 0 while reviving.
• Fixed an issue when using a scope and the character moves backward, the scope shakes.
• Fixed certain limb animations not playing while vaulting.
• Fixed an issue preventing the correct crosshair from being displayed after holstering a sidearm.
• Fixed an issue with Shirt (Plaid) icon not matching the in-game asset.
• Fixed a bug which prevented footsteps from being heard while walking over mud or water while wearing Harley Quinn Daddy’s Lil’ Monster Outfit
• Fixed an issue where parachutes deployed higher than intended in War Mode.
  
• Fixed a visual issue in War Mode UI related to long character names.
  
• Fixed an issue where weapons could sometimes become unusable after reconnecting to a game.
  
• Fixed an issue which prevented setting a number with two decimal places.
  
• Fixed a visual issue in the mission list UI.
  
• Fixed an issue with blinking shadows in certain houses when the shadow option was set to 'High'.
  
• Fixed a visual issue after reloading an M249 which could cause the magazine to float mid-air.
  
• Fixed an issue preventing vehicle missions from being completed with the Zima.

Hello Players!

Late last year, PUBG Corporation formed a new Mastery initiative dedicated to improving and evolving how progression works on the Battlegrounds. Since then, we’ve been heads down working to establish a cohesive progression system that feels true to the PUBG experience and rewarding to you, the players. After months of planning and development, we’re stoked to finally reveal our first class of progression: Weapon Mastery.





Weapon Mastery is a brand new progression feature in PUBG with unique, free rewards. Our goals for Weapon Mastery are simple, give players an avenue for improving their weapon skills and celebrate the journey along the way.

After Weapon Mastery goes live, you’ll notice every weapon now has a series of levels that players can progress through by dealing damage and defeating opponents. It’s important to note however that both strategy and precision also have an influence on how quickly you level up your weapons. Weapon Mastery aims to encourage healthy play in PUBG where both weapon skill and the effort to be the last man standing are rewarded in tandem.

TL;DR: Shoot enemies, stay alive, get cool stuff.





You can progress through Weapon Mastery levels by earning Weapon XP in matches. Hitting difficult shots, surviving longer and defeating more enemies will all earn you Weapon XP at a faster rate. After every ten levels on a weapon, you will be promoted to the next Mastery Tier (there are 10 tiers total). Gaining levels and tiers in Weapon Mastery will result in unlocking the rewards content the system has to offer. The farther you progress, the more there is to unlock. In order to help you track your progression, we’ve included a new Last Match screen where you can see your earned Weapon XP, weapon stats, and earned rewards from the previous game you’ve played.





We’ve bundled the Last Match screen and everything else related to weapon progression under this new menu. The Mastery Menu will serve as the new home for all progression content from the Mastery team. In this version, you’ll be able to view weapon stats, see your earned medals and track your rewards progress on each weapon.



Speaking of rewards, Weapon Mastery features a number of new things to unlock and collect, all of which are free to those who earn them. No Weapon Mastery content will ever be purchasable, so be prepared to work for this specialized loot. Giving players the opportunity to show off their accomplishments and personalize their look are very high on our priority list. We've explained how you earn rewards, but here's a taste of the perks and levels coming to Weapon Mastery.



Charms are a brand new aesthetic reward to PUBG. Charms are keychain-like trinkets that attach to the left side on the barrel of each weapon. You can equip and see which charms you have unlocked from inside the Mastery tab. We’re launching with 20 unique charms that must be earned on a per weapon basis and it’s a safe bet that there are more on the way.

<Weapon Mastery has 20 different earnable charms at launch, here are just a few.>



Each tier has its own corresponding emblem and those emblems get more prestigious over time. Over the next few months our team will be exploring ways for you to show off your emblems to other players.





The launch of Weapon Mastery also features the maiden voyage of our new medals system. Medals are our way of highlighting the awesome accomplishments you perform. Our launch medals all revolve around rare weapons feats. We’ll be sharing more on how medals fit into our larger plans in the future, but in the meantime, enjoy stacking those Quadras.





Defeats are a new concept we’re bringing to the game in order to clarify how medals are earned.

You Defeat a player by

• Killing any player in the solo playlists
  
• Knocking down any enemy in duo or squad playlists
  
• Killing the last man standing on a team in duo or squad playlists

You do not Defeat a player by

• Killing an already knocked player in duo or squad playlists

...and no, you can’t defeat your own teammates. Don’t be that guy.



Weapon Mastery is the first piece of a much larger system currently being designed. As we learn, adapt, and grow as a group, we want to hear from you. If you have ideas to improve the Weapon Mastery system, ideas for future rewards, or any other thoughts on the best way to grow and progress as a PUBG player, please let us know.

Some of the Weapon Mastery team will be doing an AMA on Reddit on 04/22/2019 from 10am to 1pm ET, which we’ll link through our social channels. This will be a great time to ask the developers and designers any questions related to this upcoming feature! We'll also be collecting questions separately from those who are not able to participate in the AMA because of the time difference, so please leave your questions here as comments! We are going to collect and send them to AMA so that developers can answer. These answers will be posted on the Q&A announcement after the event, so watch for upcoming announcements for your chance to get answers!

You can try out the Weapon Mastery system on the PC test server on 04/17/2019 KST, and when it goes live a week later for PC. Weapons Mastery is in development for Xbox and PS4.



See you on the Battlegrounds,

--The PUBG Mastery Team

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ66tH2LREw
The next stop on the PUBG esports calendar is just around the corner. The PEL Kick-Off Cup will take place from April 30 - May 5 and will be the first clash between the European region’s two main divisions: PEL and PEL Contenders. A total of 32 PUBG Europe teamswill participate in the PEL Kick-Off Cup with $125,000 on the line.

All 16 PEL teams from Phase 1 Kick-Off will fill half of the tournament slots. The other berths will be awarded to the top 16 teams from PEL Contenders Phase 1. The Kick-Off Cup should offer a glimpse into how the two divisions match-up and a preview to PEL Phase 2, when promotion and relegation between the PEL and PEL Contenders divisions will come into play.



In the tournament’s group stage, the 32 teams will be split into two groups of 16 teams each:

• Both Groups will have 8x PEL Contender teams and 8x PEL teams.
  
• From each group, the top 8 teams will advance to the final stage of the tournament, where we will find out who reigns over Europe.

There will be 24 total matches in the group stage, played from April 30 to May 2. Eight matches will be played every day of the group stage, with each group playing four total. Group A matches start at 12:00 CEST and Group B matches start at 17:30 CEST. Once the top 16 from the group stage are decided, the final stage’s 12 matches will start May 3 and conclude May 5 with the crowning of the Kick-Off Cup champion.






Points will be awarded based on the revised SUPER guidelines and competitive format currently in use for PEL and PEL Contenders. The format rewards aggressive, kill-focused play, making for intense matches and plenty of highlights.



The $125,000 prize pool will be shared between the top 8 teams as follows:

1st place – $50,000
2nd place – $22,500
3rd place – $15,000
4th-8th place – $7,500

Mark your calendars for April 30 and clear your schedule. The Kick-Off Cup will bring top level competition your way as the PUBG Esports world prepares for Phase 2.

More information about the tournament will be available at a later date. Please check the PEL websiteand our social media channels for updates!

Follow our social media:
Twitter
Facebook
Youtube

The world’s best PUBG teams threw smoke and fragged out for weeks to earn their tickets to London, setting up the FACEIT Global Summit to be the most competitive tournament yet in PUBG Esports. With the field of 24 teams coming into focus, serious PUBG esports fans can show their appreciation for their favorite players and teams by picking up some of the exclusive FACEIT Global Summit items now available in PUBG.

The FACEIT Global Summit is the first PUBG Classic of the 2019 season and that means 25% of the proceeds from FACEIT Global Summit items will go to the competing teams. The teams at the FGS represent the best of the best and their pursuit of Chicken Dinners promises to be a turning point in PUBG Esports. Fans are grabbing their piece of PUBG Esports history when they pick up FACEIT Global Summit items and the pros get tangible recognition for the work they put in to get to London.


The camouflage hoodie and mask both come with the official FACEIT Global Summit logo and are available starting today from the in-game store. The event begins April 16 PDT but the champion, and wild card slots at the PUBG Global Championship, will be decided on April 21 PDT. Fans can purchase the FACEIT Global Summit mask and hoodie until before the live server maintenance starts on April 23 PDT.

https://youtu.be/WcdVj4h3Jr8

Hi everyone,

We sincerely thank all the players who participated in the ‘Survival Title System Season 2’ which ended on March 20. Congratulations to all the players who were able to achieve a rank of Novice V (1000 SP) or higher, you will receive your season reward(s) upon login.

‘Survival Title System Season 3’ is now live with new end of season rewards and additional rewards granted upon each new title achieved. Check out the new rewards in-game under the ‘Season’ tab and read about the new season in detail in the Update #27 patch notes.

The majority of participants in Season 2 played hard and fair to achieve their end of season rewards, but unfortunately a small number of players abused the system in an attempt to unfairly gain a higher rank and more rewards. We don’t take this behavior lightly and will be removing end of season rewards from all players found to be abusing the system, in accordance with PUBG’s Rules of Conduct.

All players found to be cheating will be permanently banned.

• Penalty: Removal of all Survival Title Season 2 end of season rewards
  
  • Reward removal will begin March 29

Removing season rewards is just the first step we’re taking against players who’ve abused the system to advance and gain more rewards than they could obtain fairly. Additional measures will follow if more severe or further violations against the Rules of Conduct are identified.

We will be implementing additional measures to ensure fair gameplay and prevent abuse during ‘Survival Title System Season 3’and beyond. Additionally, we’ll continue to enhance monitoring of misconduct, including the sale and use of unauthorized programs.

Thank you
– PUBG Corp.

Hey everyone,

Among the updates to gameplay balance we released in the latest patch (Patch 27), we made an improvement to the sounds generated by a character's movement, which is a critical sound for gameplay. To provide detailed information on the Rustle/Rattle changes, we would like to explain the changes thoroughly and give some before and after examples.



In order to continually improve realistic elements in PUBG, our DEV teams recently turned their focus to the sounds that are generated from character movement. Previously, when a character was sprinting at full speed, using the shift key, the character emitted a fixed amount of Rustle/Rattle sounds. The video below gives a good example of this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1EORFyDGVg <Previous movement sounds while running with and without equipment>


As you can see from the video above, the character was still emitting rustling sounds in the early game, even before acquiring any equipment. There were cases where rustling sounds were not being emitted when walking and walking slowly.

To simulate these situations more realistically, we have modified the sounds to be more natural, while trying not to disturb gameplay as much as possible*. We’ve also worked on improving character movement sounds in general as part of these changes.

*From recent feedback from the test server, we have confirmed that the volume of the updated sounds were too loud, harming gameplay. We followed up on this with a hotfix last week.



The general improvements we’ve made to Rustle/Rattle sounds are below.

• Only Weapons (excluding pistols) and Backpacks will emit Rustle/Rattle sounds.
  
  • Pistols and Melee weapons will not emit Rustle/Rattle sounds.
• Rustle/Rattle sounds will be at their highest volume while sprinting (using Shift key).
  
  • Normal running will play Rustle/Rattle sounds at a lower volume.
    
  • Rustle/Rattle sounds will be hardly audible while walking slowly or crawling.
• Overall audible range of Rustle/Rattle sounds are lower than footstep sounds.

To better illustrate the changes, we’ve prepared a few video examples with the above situations.

• Characters without any major equipment will no longer emit Rustle/Rattle sounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzcFrdCNA5s <When a character moves without any equipment>

• In terms of weapons, there is a different Rustle/Rattle sound while wearing a weapon on your back and holding one in your hands. Holding a weapon will be slightly louder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGW6WlV-Cek <Comparison of held weapon vs worn weapon sounds>

• Improved realism of sounds emitted by characters wearing a backpack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_dS4OS1MPM <Rustle/Rattle of equipped bags>

• If you’re holding a gun, wearing a secondary gun, and have a backpack equipped, you will emit all three Rustle/Rattle sounds at once.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaprur9fY20 <Rustle/Rattle sounds while fully equipped>


As mentioned earlier, the goal here was to make character sounds a bit more realistic. This might seem like a relatively subtle change, but we believe sound is one of the most important elements in PUBG, so we wanted to make sure that everyone understood the changes we were making. These changes are part of Update 27, which is now on live servers. As always, we’re looking forward to your feedback on this patch, and anything else we can do to improve the realism, quality, and balance of the game.


Thank you,

-The PUBG Team

Survivor Pass: Wild Card offers a mixture of great new cosmetic items with a spy film theme, allowing players to drop into their favorite map dressed to kill!

Wild Card works in much the same way as our previous Survivor Passes, with the main pass allowing everyone to earn rewards for free. Players who want access to more rewards, including several great new cosmetic pieces, can purchase the Premium Survivor Pass for $9.99. Doing so immediately earns you the Floral Bomber Jacket item and gives you access to some additional rewards for completing premium missions.

Players have 10 weeks to complete as much of their pass as they can, earning rewards and coupons as they achieve new levels. You will earn either a Blue, Yellow, or White coupon with each level up, which can be exchanged for random crate keys in the Coupon Shop. For those who wish to skip ahead or supplement their current level, level packs are available for purchase once again, immediately granting you the rewards from those levels.

In addition to what we’ve done previously with Survivor Passes, we’ve adjusted the difficulty of missions overall, and have added a new series of challenge missions that revolve around your skills with certain weapons. Completing these missions will unlock a special skin for that weapon, so be sure to complete these if you’re looking for a stylish new way to show off your Tommy Gun, Beryl M762, S686, UMP45, or M16A4 skills!


For more details, please visit Survivor Pass Microsite.

PUBG's latest content release, Update #27, is now available on live servers and we're excited to announce with it the launch of our third Survivor Pass, Wild Card! Read all about it here.

Check out the patch report below for a rundown of what to expect in this update!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTA2zRGLthw To see all the changes included in this update in detail, head over to our patch notes.

This update brings the brand new Survivor Pass 3: Wild Card! With up to 60 rewards available. In celebration of the PUBG 2 year anniversary, we’ve also be added a free 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY CAP to the store.

Survival Title System Season 3 has also now been launched! Survival Points from Season 2 have been soft-reset, meaning you don’t have to start completely from scratch. Players who reached the threshold to claim season rewards will receive them soon.

Major changes have been made to the Flare Gun, including quality of life improvements. We’ve added the new MP5K SMG to Vikendi, bumped up the loot on Erangel, made lots of changes to weapon balance, including making the M16A4 stronger, and also reduced aim punch.

If you want a more detailed explanation of the gameplay balance changes being made, as well as the loot changes to Erangel, read out dev letters below:

Dev Letter: Patch 27 Gameplay Balance
Dev Letter: Erangel Loot Rebalance

We can't wait to hear all of your feedback!

- The PUBG Team

Hello everyone,

We recently released Update #27 on the Test Server, which included lots of changes, including the new MP5K SMG, Survivor Pass 3, and changes to the Survival Title System for season 3. In addition to these, we made quite a few changes to gameplay balance and wanted to go a little more in depth on our thought process behind those in this Dev Letter.

Update #27 is the first major balance patch of 2019. We introduce balance patches such as these to keep the game evolving and prevent gameplay from becoming stale. Our goal is to release a pretty major balance patch roughly once per quarter, to provide a more diverse PUBG experience and keep the game evolving and feeling fresh.

Let’s take a look at some of the major changes implemented with this balance patch.



Aim punch is a type of camera shake that is triggered by getting hit and momentarily offsets player's aim point, and is used to simulate the realistic effect that being struck by a bullet would have on your aim. We have done multilateral analysis of our aim punch system, including taking in lots of player feedback, and concluded that it needs to be adjusted to generate less impact on gameplay while keeping the effect to some degree. In the past, getting shot applied a considerable penalty on long range aiming, especially when using high magnification scopes. With the update, players are now able to readjust their aim and find their target faster. For short range aiming, previously, aim punch could potentially lead to losing the entire fight just because you were hit first, which would sway your full auto burst away from the target. With these changes, players should see fewer instances of this, as the effect of aim punch has been reduced by around 50% of what it used to be. However, remember that aim punch penalties are harsher when not wearing armor, so be aware of this if your helmet or vest happen to break.



In terms of attachments, we decided to undertake a couple of actions to reduce the loot clutter in the game. As of this patch, Pistols and SMGs now utilize the same attachments, significantly reducing the overall attachments in the loot pool. This change will also be accompanied by a greater number of AR and SR attachments spawning in the world. Along these same lines, we merged shotgun and bullet loops into one single item that can be used on both shotguns and sniper rifles. Finding this type of attachment should now be much easier, especially when you need it on your Kar98k or lever-action rifle. Since this change has removed several items from the game, we have filled in that loot gap by increasing the quantities of overall items spawned. While the quantity increase was evenly distributed across all other items, a few items that are more highly desired received a greater amount of increase, such as ARs, heal/boost items, and equipment. Exceptions to this quantity increase were level 3 helmets and flare guns, which could drastically alter the game experience even with a small quantity change. The main purpose of this adjustment is to provide a better gameplay experience by increasing the quantities of major items while keeping the items that have a huge impact on gameplay to the same level.



We’ve also made a few changes in the weapons department. SMGs will now deal more damage to limbs to improve their short range effectiveness, whereas sniper rifles will deal significantly more damage to the torso, being able to one-shot kill unarmored targets (except for Win94). Apart from that, we decided to swap around the calibers of two sub-machine guns; the Vector and UMP. This is to make them more realistically accurate damage wise, as well as to improve the usability of the Vector by giving it a larger magazine capacity. While the damage of the Vector has been reduced slightly to 31, it still remains a very capable weapon, now with an increased default magazine capacity and being able to fire up to 33 rounds quickly with an extended magazine. This change also means that very long bursts with the Vector will now be a little easier to control. Last but not least, we’ve added the tactical stock attachment to the Mutant and the M16A4, making them easier to use as "tapping weapons." The latter also had its recoil reduced on the initial shots of burst mode, making it more deadly in CQC scenarios.



Finally, we decided to change the way the first aid kit works in the game. Instead of restoring you to 75% health immediately after the use timer, the healing will now apply over 2 seconds. This change will make it a little more difficult to immediately re-engage a target after you’ve applied a heal, so finding good cover is recommended before you take the time to heal. If you are on the attacking side of things, this gives you a little more time to close the distance on a recovering enemy while they wait for their health bar to fill. We are looking forward to seeing how this changes the dynamics of firefights and are eager to hear your feedback on how this feels as a player.

These balance changes put more emphasis on PUBG’s core gameplay elements, and are intended to boost playability while offering a fresh gameplay experience. We expect there to be a lot of varied feedback for this update and understand that balance changes such as these can be a touchy subject. As always, any and all feedback is welcome and will be the basis of which we decide future directions for PUBG. Hop in-game, check out the changes, and let us know your thoughts!


Thank you,

--PUBG Dev Team

Hello everyone,

PUBG has been generating various codes for cosmetics items since March of 2017 and over 5 million item codes have been distributed globally through events and promotions.

Distributed codes have historically had no expiration date, which has lead to cases of codes not being used for their intended purpose, or otherwise being exploited/abused. Therefore, in the coming weeks, we will be deactivating certain existing item codes to prevent further abuse and facilitate a healthy item economy. 

These changes will also allow us to continue offering players opportunities to obtain item codes through events and promotions well into the future.


Code deactivation is conducted in accordance with the "Bonus / Gift Code Policy" specified in [Operational Policy].
Please check the details below for code deactivation schedule and to review applicable codes.


9. Bonus/Gift Code (“Code”) Policy
 [Deactivation Schedule and Codes subject to Deactivation]
- Code redeemable until: 23:59, Sunday, April 25 (Tentative) (KST)
- Code deactivation as of : After Monday, April 26 (KST)

- Codes subject to deactivation
Codes subject to deactivation can be identified by the first 4 characters of the serial number.
For example, all codes that start with P153 as the prefix are subject to deactivation, which means P153-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx is subject to deactivation.

(Example image)
All codes with the following prefixes are subject to deactivation (you can quickly search the prefix using Ctrl+F):
Please review the instructions below if you have an existing code you wish to redeem before the deactivation date.

[How to redeem codes]
Open PUBG > Store > Items > Add Bonus/Gift code




Thank you for your understanding.
- PUBG Corp.