PUBG: Battlegrounds

PUBG represents the standalone version of what Greene believes is the "final version" of the battle royale concept, incorporating the elements he had designed in previous iterations.[6][33] Faster development was possible with the game engine Unreal Engine 4, compared with ARMA and H1Z1, which were built with proprietary game engines. Greene acknowledged that implementing the size of the maps in PUBG has been one of the challenges with working with Unreal, which was not designed with such maps in mind.[6][12] The game was designed as a mix between the realistic simulation of ARMA 3 and the arcade-like action focus and player accessibility of H1Z1.[5] To prevent in-game cheating, the game uses BattlEye anti-cheating software, which had permanently banned over 13 million players by October 2018.[34][35] BattlEye indicated that 99% of all cheating software for the game was developed in China.[36]

Based on Greene's experience with the genre, an island with many terrain features was picked as the first map, known as "Erangel".[11] The map design scope was to offer players many possible options for strategic and unique gameplay.[4] Some buildings and structures were designed to depict the style of the brutalist architecture of the Soviet Union during the 1950s. The developer team playtested architecture features and random item placement systems, looking at both how close-quarters encounters went, and for open terrain areas.[4] The goal was to optimize the right distribution and placement of weapons and gear across the map, to encourage players to make strategic decisions about how to proceed in the game without overly penalizing players who may not find weapons within the first few minutes of a round.[6] During early access, additional maps were planned, such as one set on a fictional island in the Adriatic Sea that included snow-covered Yugoslavian territories.[37][23] Greene stated that he thought the Erangel map felt disjointed despite meeting their goals for gameplay, and sought to create more unified ideas with future maps.[11]

The freefall from an airplane at the start of each match was a new feature for the genre, to encourage strategy between staying with the pack of players or seeking out one's own route for a better chance at finding good loot.[6] With the added parachute drop, Greene considered that PUBG had three distinct subgames: the airdrop during which one must quickly figure out the best time to jump and where to land in relationship to the other players, the loot game of knowing where and how to gather the best possible equipment, and the combat game with other players.[38] Winners of a match are greeted with the phrase "winner winner chicken dinner", an idiom that Greene had used in his prior battle royale games and kept in PUBG, which itself had origins as early as the Great Depression era.[39]

Greene also introduced microtransactions that allow players to use real-world funds to purchase loot crates that provide randomly-selected cosmetic items, also known as "skins", which they can trade with other players; while Greene recognizes the issue with skin gambling, he believes that Valve has put safeguards in place to support a "skin economy" that will provide further revenue for them without concerns over gambling.[8] However, by November 2017, gray market skin gambling sites began to appear that used PUBG cosmetics as virtual currency.[40] Following controversy over the use of loot boxes to offer "pay-to-win" items in other games in November 2017, the PUBG Corporation affirmed that while they would continue to add new cosmetic items rewarded by in-game crate purchases, they would never add anything that affects or alters gameplay.[41] In May 2018, PUBG Corporation disabled the ability to trade skins on the Steam Marketplace as they found that players were still abusing the system by selling them for monetary value through unofficial third-party platforms.[42] While still in early access, Bluehole offered an early preview of the system by offering time-limited crates that could be purchased during the first PUBG Invitations tournament during Gamescom in August 2017, with the sales from these contributing to the prize pool. Among loot from these crates were special outfits inspired by the original Battle Royale film.[43] Greene anticipates adding a campaign mode with co-operative player support, though there would be "no serious lore" crafted for the narrative, comparing this to similar modes in Watch Dogs.[44]

The game also features custom gamemodes and modding support.[6][14] He considered modding support an essential part of the full release as, just as he had his start with mods, he wants to enable others to create variations on his game so that he could "find the next PlayerUnknown".[45] This was aided by a quiet release of custom server support to a number of influential streamers which subsequently made it into public release.[24] In one case, "Zombie Mode", all but four players pretend to be zombies, who may sometimes distinguish themselves by removing all clothing and are limited only to collecting melee weapons and consumable items, and must rush to attack the other four players, who are able to collect all gear and attempt to outrun and defeat the zombies.[46] Inspired by this mode, Greene announced plans to introduce an official zombie-based gameplay mode based on this into PUBG.[47] Whereas most of the rest of the team continued to develop the core gameplay and maps, Greene is taking on the zombie mode as a near solo project, only using the assistance of the lead animator to help with the zombie animations.[23] Greene sees PUBG as a platform, and would like to see more custom game types and mods developed by players for it.[12] Greene identified that some mods that he also previously worked on from ARMA 3 may become part of the Battlegrounds platform.[12] Greene also wants to incorporate streaming services like Twitch into the game that would enable features supporting Battlegrounds' development as an esport, calling this an "ultimate end goal" for his development, but he wanted to let it progress naturally with players.[6][14][13]

Bluehole used closed alpha and beta periods with about 80,000 players to gauge initial reaction to the gameplay and adjust balance prior to a wider release.[14][48] Just prior to the early access phase on Steam, Bluehole opened a few servers and invited some popular live streamers of similar games to try it out as to start gaining interest.[49] Early access for the Windows version launched on March 23, 2017.[50] This period was planned to last approximately six months, originally aiming for a September 2017 release.[50][51] In July 2017, Greene announced that they would need to extend the early access period by a few months, continuing to release updates on a regular basis, with plans to still release by the end of 2017, as committing to this original period "could hinder us from delivering a fully featured game and/or lead to disappointment within the community if the launch deadline is not met".[52] Initially, Bluehole had expected that they would just gain enough players through early access to smooth out the gameplay, and only when the game was completed, they would have started more marketing for the title. The sudden interest in the game from early access exceeded their expectations, and put emphasis on the stability of the game and its underlying networking alongside gameplay improvements.[48] Through August 2017, these updates generally included a major weekly patch alongside major monthly updates that provided key performance improvements.[53] However, from August onward Bluehole backed off the rate of such patches, as the high frequency has led to some quality control issues, and the developers rather make sure each patch content is well-vetted by the community before providing new updates; this did not change their plans for a 2017 release, where it fully released out of early access on December 20.[54][55]

In part of the game's success in early access, Tencent Games, the largest publisher of video games in China, approached Bluehole that same month with an offer to publish PUBG in China.[56] However, the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association issued a statement in October 2017 that discouraged battle royale-style games, stating that they are too violent and deviate from Chinese values of socialism, deeming it harmful to young consumers.[57][58] The following month however, PUBG had reached a formal agreement with the Chinese government to allow the release of the game in the country, with Tencent as the publishing partner.[59] However, some changes were made to make sure it aligned with socialist values and traditional Chinese morals.[60] In South Korea, the game is marketed and distributed by Kakao Games.[61]

Despite the lack of a Chinese publisher prior to the Tencent deal, players in China had found ways to acquire and play the game through Steam via proxies and other networking tricks.[62] To address it, PUBG Corporation planned to add maximum client ping limits for servers which can reduce the issues with latency problems and prevent some of the cheating that has occurred. This would not prevent cross-region matchmaking but may make it difficult for some players to play outside their region if they have a poor Internet infrastructure.[63] Tencent has also helped by identifying and reporting around 30 software programs to Chinese police that can be used to cheat in PUBG, leading to over a hundred arrests by the beginning of 2018.[64] Separately, this technical issue, in addition to the larger number of Chinese players, has created complaints in the player community. Some Western players fear that many Chinese players are able to cheat in the game by exploiting some of the network latency issues, something that PUBG Corporation continued to address as the game shifted out of early access. However, a small number of players called for server segregation by region and had used racial insults at Chinese players they encountered in game. Greene was disappointed with this "xenophobic attitude", calling it "disgraceful", and asked the player community to respect the Chinese players more as their numbers were a key part of the game's success.[62] Greene also identified that players can easily get around such region locks using virtual private networks, making this approach ineffective.[65] PUBG Corporation eventually added region-based matchmaking by October 2018, though players still reported issues with connectivity and slow matchmaking.[66]

PUBG Lite is a free version of PUBG that is meant to be better playable on low-end computers by having significant reductions in graphic details and other features, but is otherwise feature complete with the full game. The version is meant to be played in regions where the game's minimum specifications may be difficult for average players to achieve, with a beta launch first releasing in Thailand in January 2019, and in Europe that October.[67][68] PUBG Lite was shut down on April 29, 2021.[69][70]

The personal computer and console versions of PUBG will transition to a free to play model on January 12, 2022. A new account tier, called Battleground Plus, will be available for purchase that includes additional customization items and in-game experience boosts, with owners of the game that had purchased it before this date being provided an upgrade to Battleground Plus automatically.[71]

On January 12, 2022, the game has become free to play. With this update, players who want to play in a ranked mode or play in custom matches need to pay $13 for the Battlegrounds Plus service. Players who previously owned the game received Battlegrounds Plus for free.[72]

Greene was part of Microsoft's press conference during E3 2017 to announce that PUBG would be coming to Xbox One as a timed console exclusive sometime by the end of 2017, using the Xbox Game Preview early access approach to test it.[73][74][48]

Initially, Greene said that Microsoft was not directly involved in the porting but only providing assistance to make sure the port is good, and that most of the porting responsibilities are being done by Anticto, a Spanish developer.[45] However, at Gamescom that year, Bluehole affirmed that Microsoft Studios would be publishing the Xbox One version of the title, helping to make a planned 2017 release for this version.[75] Greene said that Microsoft's support has helped in several ways, not only for the Xbox One version but improving the performance and security of the Windows version. Further, by being part of the group of studios under the Microsoft banner, they have been able to talk and incorporate technology from other developers, such as improved water rendering techniques they obtained from Rare that they had developed for Sea of Thieves.[76] Microsoft considered PUBG to be an important project to demonstrate their company's ability to be more than just a publisher, according to Microsoft's Nico Bihary who lead the project. Bihary said they have given PUBG a "white glove" treatment, and for the Xbox One port have provided services from their advanced technology group and time and support from The Coalition, another of Microsoft Studios' subsidiaries.[77] Kim also stated that the team was interested in cross-platform play between the Windows and console versions, but did not anticipate this as a release feature, as they need to determine how to mitigate the advantage keyboard and mouse-using players would have over those using controllers.[48]

Titled "Game Preview Edition", the early access version for the Xbox One was released on December 12, 2017, in both digital and physical formats.[78] To promote it, Microsoft performed real-life supply crate drops in Australia in the week prior, with the crates containing Xbox hardware, Battlegrounds merchandise, and other goods, using passcodes published alongside the drop locations on social media.[79] The Xbox version also includes Xbox-specific in-game cosmetic items, some which could be purchased directly rather than through in-game crates.[80] The official release out of the Game Preview program occurred on September 4, 2018.[81][82] Xbox Series X/S version and PlayStation 5 releases were announced via a post on the office website. The game launched on November 10, 2020 in Xbox Series X/S. PUBG Corporation confirmed the Xbox Series X version will feature a consistent 60 FPS gameplay while the Xbox Series S version features a 30 FPS gameplay, however they've also claimed the framerate cap will be raised in the near future. The game also features account transition and cross-platform play.[83]

With the announcement of the Xbox release, PUBG Corporation stated that there were plans to port to additional platforms, such as the PlayStation 4.[84][85][86] In an interview shortly after Gamescom, Greene said that their deal with Microsoft did not exclude a PlayStation 4 port, but that their focus at the time was only on the Windows and Xbox One version, given the small size of their team.[76][56] When asked about it in January 2018, Kim stated that the team released the game first on the Steam and Xbox Game Preview early access programs as they both easily allowed in-development games to be released and updated over time, which contrasted with Sony's lack of their own early access program, as well as their strict quality control for even completed games.[87] The PlayStation port was officially announced in November, and was released on December 7, 2018. PUBG Corporation studio head Brian Corrigan said that while they had had a small team working on the PlayStation 4 port for some time, it was only until the Xbox One port was mostly completed that they began fully working on the PlayStation port.[88] The PlayStation 4 version of the game includes platform-exclusive customization items, specifically the outfit of Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series, and Ellie's backpack from The Last of Us.[89] A short live-action film to promote the PlayStation 4 release was directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts and starred Jason Mitchell.[90] The PlayStation 5 version the game was released along with the PlayStation 5 console on November 12, 2020. The publisher claimed those who purchased the game on PlayStation 4 will be able to free upgrade and download the game, player could experience a consistent 60 FPS gameplay, account transition and supports cross-platform play.[91]

Cross-platform play support between the Xbox and PlayStation versions of PUBG was added in October 2019 following a testing period during the prior month.[92][93]

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds – Pioneer Edition was released on the streaming service Stadia on April 28, 2020. The game was free for Stadia's paid subscribers on launch.[94]

Following the Chinese publication deal for the Windows version, Tencent Games and PUBG Corporation additionally announced that they were planning on releasing two mobile versions based on the game in the country.[95][96] The first, PUBG: Exhilarating Battlefield, is an abridged version of the original game, and was developed by LightSpeed & Quantum Studio, an internal division of Tencent Games.[97] The second, PUBG: Army Attack, includes more arcade-style elements, including action taking place on warships, and was developed by Tencent's Timi Studio.[98] Both versions are free-to-play, and were released for Android and iOS devices on February 9, 2018.[99][100] The games had a combined total of 75 million pre-registrations, and ranked first and second on the Chinese iOS download charts at launch.[100] Following a soft launch in Canada, an English version of Exhilarating Battlefield, localized simply as PUBG Mobile, was released worldwide on March 19, 2018.[101][102][103] Following its release, a Korean and Japanese oriented version of the game released in June 2018, under the title name PUBG Mobile KR. A Vietnamese version, PUBG Mobile VN released in January 2019.

In China, PUBG Mobile had been awaiting approval by the government for an authorized released, during which the game could only be offered as a public test. However, Tencent's planned release was suspended due to the government approval freeze across most of 2018. By May 2019, Tencent announced it would no longer seek to publish PUBG Mobile in China, but instead would re-release the game under the title, Game for Peace that readily meets China's content restrictions, such as eliminating blood and gore.[104] Taiwanese version of the game was released following the Chinese version, as PUBG Mobile TW. A version meant for lower-end mobile devices which features a smaller map made for 60 players, PUBG Mobile Lite, was released on July 25, 2019.[105][106] This had support for high FPS gameplay on multiple Android devices.[107] The Chinese version of the app was again renamed to Peacekeeper Elite in 2020.[108]

Support for 90FPS gameplay was added for selected OnePlus devices in August 2020.[107][109]

On May 6, 2021, Krafton announced the relaunch of the game in India, following the ban imposed by the Government of India. Krafton directly publish the game instead of Tencent as a newly named title which could be only be accessed by users in India as Battlegrounds Mobile India.[110][111]

Battlegrounds made US$11 million in the first three days of its Windows early access release in March 2017.[153] By the second week of April, the game had sold over one million copies, with a peak player count of 89,000,[154] SuperData Research estimated that the game's April sales exceeded US$34 million, putting it as one of the top 10 highest grossing revenue games for the month and exceeding revenue from Overwatch and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.[155] By May 2017, the game had sold over two million copies, with total gross revenues estimated at US$60 million.[156][157] Within three months of its early access release, it had surpassed over five million copies sold,[158] and Bluehole announced it had exceeded US$100 million in sale revenue.[159] Battlegrounds reached this four million mark faster than Minecraft, which took over a year to reach similar sales figures while it was in its paid-beta development period.[160]

By September 2017, Bluehole's value, as tracked by a firm that tracks private Korean corporations, increased five-fold from June of that year to a value of US$4.6 billion, primarily due to Battlegrounds.[56] By December 2017, PUBG Corporation reported that there were more than 30 million players worldwide between the Windows and Xbox versions.[161] The research film SuperData estimated that Battlegrounds drew in more than US$712 million in revenue within 2017.[162] By February 2018, the game had sold over thirty million on Steam according to Steam Spy.[163] The following month, Steam's President Gabe Newell stated that the game was the third highest-grossing game of all time on the platform.[164] PUBG: Battlegrounds is the best-selling video game on PC and Xbox One as of before release of the PlayStation 4 version, 42 million copies sold on PC and 9 million copies sold on Xbox One.[165][166]

Within three days of going live on the Xbox Live Preview Program in mid-December 2017, Microsoft announced that Battlegrounds had sold more than a million copies on the platform. Alongside this, Microsoft announced that Battlegrounds would be offered as a free add-on for those buying the Xbox One X console through the end of 2017.[167] A month after release, the Xbox version had sold more than four million copies and was the fourth bestselling game in the United States, according to The NPD Group.[168][169] By March 2018, the game had sold forty million copies across all platforms, which had risen to over fifty million by June, averaging over 87 million players daily with over 400 million players in total.[170][171] The mobile version in particular had over 100 million downloads by August 2018,[172] and exceeded 225 million by October 2018,[173] a figure higher than the combined player base for Fortnite at nearly the same point in time. As of 2018, the bulk of these players were in Asian countries such as China and India, where PUBG Mobile was released before Fortnite and could run on lower-powered mobile hardware.[174][175] China has the game's largest player base.[173] PUBG was the most popular online game in India in 2018 (but it was banned by the government of India in 2020; see below).[176]

PUBG was the top-selling PC paid game of 2017,[177] having sold 30 million copies worldwide and grossed about $900 million.[178] By June 2018, it had sold more than 50 million copies worldwide.[171] PUBG was again the top-selling PC paid game of 2018, increasing its annual sales revenue to $1.028 billion.[179] In addition, the free-to-play PUBG Mobile became the first mobile battle royale game to gross over $1 billion,[180] reaching over $1.5 billion as of 2019.[181]

PUBG Mobile was the second most-downloaded mobile game of 2018, with nearly 300 million downloads worldwide. The game's largest market was China, which accounted for 29% of the game's downloads, followed by India and the United States each with about 10% (30 million) of its downloads. It was the most-installed battle royale game of 2018, with about 200 million more installs than Fortnite, which received 82 million installs on mobile devices.[182] As of 2019, PUBG Mobile has reached 555 million downloads worldwide, with India accounting 116 million (21%) of the downloads, China with 108 million (19%) downloads, and the United States with 42 million (8%) downloads.[181]

In Japan, PUBG was the most popular PC game during 2017.[183] PUBG Mobile grossed ¥3.58 billion ($32.42 million) in Japan during 2018.[184] In January 2019, the PlayStation 4 version of Battlegrounds sold 7,447 copies within its first week in Japan, which placed it at number fourteen on the all format sales chart.[185] As of December 2019, the PC and console versions of the game had sold over 60 million copies, in addition to PUBG Mobile having crossed 600 million downloads.[186] By July 2020, computer and console software sales had exceeded 70 million units sold,[187] in addition to PUBG Mobile accumulating 734 million downloads.[188] PUBG Mobile grossed over $3.5 billion in revenue by August 2020.[189] PUBG Mobile grossed over $2.6 billion in 2020, making it the highest-grossing game of the year and bringing its total revenue to over $4.3 billion by December 2020.[190]

In March 2021, it was reported that PUBG Mobile has accumulated 1 billion downloads outside of China since launch.[191] As of December 2022, PUBG Mobile has grossed $9 billion worldwide,[192] while Battlegrounds Mobile India surpassed 100 million on Google Play store.[193] By the end of 2021, PUBG: Battlegrounds had an average of 70 million daily users.[194] After selling more than 75 million copies, the original PC and console game converted to free-to-play,[195] according to the Krafton's revenue report for the first quarter of 2022, free-to-play transition was the reason for increase in game's profit. PC sales have been increased by 61 percent for a revenue of $82.3 million. In gaming consoles, sales revenue have been increased by 274 percent over the last year, monthly active users also have been increased by almost 300 percent. PC and console version of the game has accumulated a total revenue of $4 billion since its release in 2017,[178][196][197][198][179] combined with the mobile version, PUBG: Battlegrounds has a total revenue of $13 billion.[192]

Before the official release of PUBG: Battlegrounds, as an early access video game, it had collected seven Guinness World Records on Steam. Starting with the first record, title "Fastest time for a Steam Early Access video game to sell one million units" was provided for being able to sell 1 million units in just 16 days of its early access release. Title "Fastest time for a Steam Early Access video game to gross $100 million in revenue" was provided for being able to gross $100 million in just 79 days of its early access release. Title "First non-Valve video game to be the most played game on Steam" was provided for being able to temporarily top the Steam charts for people playing the game at the same time – more than 800,000. It was the first time that a game not published by Valve, the makers of Steam, had achieved this since Steam's initial release in 2003. As of 6 September 2017, it had the second highest ever peak players on the Steam distribution platform. Titles "Most concurrent players for a Steam Early Access video game", "Most concurrent players on Steam for a non-Valve video game" and "Most actively played video game on Steam" were provided for being able to achieve 1,984,278 concurrent players on Steam. Title "First video game with 2 million concurrent players on Steam" was provided for being able to achieve a peak of 2,279,084 gamers playing at the same time.[199]

While still in early access, Battlegrounds won the "Best Multiplayer Game" and was also nominated for the categories "Game of the Year" and "Best Ongoing Game" at The Game Awards 2017.[200] The game's nomination for "Game of the Year" created some debate, being the first early access title to be named for one of the top industry awards.[201][202] Also, about a month before it was released, the game won "Best Multiplayer Game" and "PC Game of the Year" at the 35th Golden Joystick Awards,[203] whereas its other nominations were for "Studio of the Year" (PUBG Corporation) and "Ultimate Game of the Year".[204] It also won the "Breakout Game of the Year" award at PC Gamer's end of the year awards,[205] whereas its other nomination was for "Game of the Year".[206] Polygon ranked the game second on their list of the 50 best games of 2017,[207] and The Verge named it one of their 15 Best Games of 2017,[208] while Entertainment Weekly ranked it seventh on their "Best Games of 2017" list.[209]

Following release, Battlegrounds has been nominated and won several industry awards, including winning Best Multiplayer Game at the 2017 Golden Joystick Awards and The Game Awards 2017, and Action Game of the Year during the 21st Annual D.I.C.E. Awards.

The game has also gained multiple award from individual press. Battlegrounds won the award for "Best PC Game", "Best Multiplayer", and "Best Spectator Game" at the IGN Best of 2017 Awards,[240][241][242] whereas its other nominations were for "Game of the Year"[243] and "Best Shooter".[244] It also won the award for "Best PC Game" at Destructoid's Game of the Year Awards 2017.[245] The game also won Giant Bomb's "Best Multiplayer", "Best Surprise", "Best Debut", and "Game of the Year" awards, and was classified as a runner-up for the "Best Moment or Sequence" award for the "chicken-eating game".[246][247][248][249] Eurogamer ranked PUBG fourth on their list of the "Top 50 Games of 2017",[250] while GamesRadar+ ranked it 12th on their list of the 25 Best Games of 2017.[251] Game Informer gave it the award each for "Best Competitive Multiplayer" and "Best Shooter" in their Best of 2017 Awards,[252][253] and also for "Best Competitive Multiplayer", "Best Multiplayer Map" (Erangel), "Best Innovation", and "Shooter of the Year" in their 2017 Shooter of the Year Awards.[254] In their Reader's Choice Best of 2017 Awards, the game won the "Best Competitive Multiplayer" award, and was runner-up in the "Best Microsoft Exclusive" and "Best Shooter" categories.[255][256][257]

Battlegrounds is considered as one of the games that have boosted the popularity of the battle royale game genre, even though other games, including Greene's previous mods, were already on the market.[258] After its large early access sales numbers, other games followed with battle royale mechanics, with either existing games that added a battle royale mode or fully new games. Notably, Epic Games updated their in-development title Fortnite, a sandbox-based survival game that included the ability to construct fortifications, to include a battle royale mode that retained the fortification aspects. Known as Fortnite Battle Royale, Epic later released it as a standalone free-to-play game in September 2017. Shortly after its release, Bluehole expressed concerns about the game, acknowledging that while they cannot claim ownership of the battle royale genre, they feared that since they had been working with Epic for technical support of the Unreal engine, that they may have had a heads-up on planned features they wanted to bring to Battlegrounds and could release it first.[259] PUBG Corporation later filed a lawsuit against Epic Games Korea in January 2018, alleging that Fortnite Battle Royale was infringing the copyright of Battlegrounds.[260] However, the lawsuit was closed by PUBG in June 2018 for undisclosed reasons.[261]

Greene had expressed concern on the large number of games that have simply cloned the Battleground mechanics, particularly in China where clones of Battlegrounds are considered a new genre of "chicken-eating game" (based on the "winner winner chicken dinner" line to a match winner in Battlegrounds).[262][263] Greene said "I want this genre of games to grow. For that to happen you need new and interesting spins on the game mode. If it's just copycats down the line, then the genre doesn't grow and people get bored."[258] Greene claimed no ownership of the battle royale or last man standing genres, but believed that the clones were taking some specific mechanics he had developed in Battlegrounds and prior mods, such as the initial parachuting segment or the red-zone bombing runs, and would like to see legislation to give developers such as himself protection against these types of concepts as well as improve creativity as developers invent new approaches to mimic such innovations.[264] Battlegrounds' explosive growth and how it popularized the battle royale genre was considered one of the top stories in the video game industry during 2017.[265][266][267]

Prior to release of their mobile versions, PUBG Corporation initiated legal action in the Northern Distinct Court of California against Chinese game publisher NetEase in January 2018, claiming that their mobile games Rules of Survival and Knives Out infringe on Battlegrounds' copyrights. PUBG's lawsuit asserts that Rules of Survival is "a copyrightable audio-visual work, individually and/or in combination with other elements of Battlegrounds", and identified several elements that appear similar in both games. While some of these elements are common features of a battle royale game, PUBG asserted that other elements reference specific facets of Battlegrounds, such as references to chicken for winning a game or using cookware as weapons or armor, makes Rules of Survival imply a connection to Battlegrounds. PUBG seeks both monetary damages and requiring NetEase from further distribution of the games. NetEase, in responding to PUBG's request to Apple to remove the games, denied that their games violated Battlegrounds' copyrights.[268][269] By March 2019, the two companies had reached an undisclosed agreement and were working to get the cases dismissed.[270]

In March 2019, Battlegrounds was banned in the Indian state of Gujarat after the local government decided the game was too addictive and an unnecessary distraction during exam season.[271] A number of students caught playing the game were arrested as a result.[272][273] The ban was not renewed in some cities in the state after March as exam season had ended.[271] A similar ban was enacted in Nepal and Iraq in April 2019, with the cited reasons being that the game was harmful to children and teenagers.[274][275] The ban in Nepal was shortly lifted by the country's Supreme Court, stating that the government could not enforce such a ban that interfered with personal freedoms without demonstrating why the ban was necessary.[276] In mid-2019, Jordan and the Indonesian province of Aceh issued similar bans.[277][278]

On July 1, 2020, Battlegrounds was banned in Pakistan by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority citing the reasons that the game is addictive, wastage of time and poses serious negative impact on physical and psychological health of the children after receiving various complaints from different segments of society and Lahore High Court's directions to look in the matter. However the ban is temporary till further orders from the court.[279] The game continued to remain banned in Pakistan for a month. A meeting was held on July 30, 2020, between PTA and legal representatives of Proxima Beta who addressed the queries raised by authority and emphasized on continued engagement and a comprehensive control mechanism after which the ban was lifted from Battlegrounds.[280]

Amidst the ongoing 2020 China–India skirmishes, the Indian government banned PUBG Mobile along with more than 100 other Chinese apps, most made by Tencent and NetEase, on September 2, 2020, asserting the apps were "stealing and surreptitiously transmitting user data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India".[281][282] India was PUBG Mobile's largest market with the country accounting for 175 million downloads and 24% of global users.[283]