The App Store version of PUBG Mobile is ready for international download on iOS and is now in the process of being deployed worldwide on Android.
Following a February debut in China and a soft launch for Android last week, the free, mobile version of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has gone live worldwide on iOS, with the Android edition going live on Google Play’s regional stores.
Since its March 2017 debut, last-person-standing action game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has come to dominate PC gaming’s Steam store.
The retail game became an immediate bestseller and after six months was breaking Steam’s records for concurrent players too – records previously held by the service owner’s own eSports heavyweight Dota 2.
PUBG added modes for teams of two to four players, options for fixed first- or third-person perspectives, a second map, new cosmetic items that kept its in-game economy buoyant, and an Xbox One edition before Chinese distribution partner Tencent provided not one but two mobile versions of the computer and console title.
At this point, it’s the more literal interpretation of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds that has made it west in the form of PUBG Mobile, though Android users in regions outside North America are still waiting for regional availability.
That may be due to ongoing localisation efforts – while PUBG Mobile currently supports iOS 9 on iPhone 5s and Android 4.3 or better, it’s only available in English or Tencent Mobile’s original Chinese.
Where PUBG is a US$29 (RM113) sale, PUBG Mobile is free-to-play and, while staples of game’s virtual economy are up and running in the smartphone and tablet edition – players earn virtual coins for logging in each day and playing well, and can use these coins to unlock crates containing a mystery cosmetic item – it’s not yet possible to transfer non-virtual funds into the game.
Meanwhile, cartoon-aesthetic competitor Fortnite- Battle Royale, which has so far eschewed PUBG-style vehicles in favour of rapid fortress construction (and destruction) and free, cross-platform multiplayer across mobile, computer and console, released an iOS edition on March 12.
An invite-only affair, players receiving a pass from developer Epic Games can then send out a limited number of codes to other friends. The game’s Android version is awaiting release. — AFP Relaxnews
