'PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' Is Going Free To Play Next Year

“PlayerUnkown’s Battlegrounds” is going free to play after being locked behind a paywall that prevented a number of players from entering its iconic battle royale arenas in the last four years.

Krafton made the big announcement that “PUBG” will be adopting the free-to-play business model starting Jan. 12 via a reveal trailer during last week’s The Game Awards 2021.

This shift could bring the once-titanic battle royale game back into the spotlight after the sub-genre was flooded with similar free titles such as “Apex Legends,” “Call of Duty Warzone” and the ubiquitous “Fortnite.”

Apart from the existing monetization within “PUBG,” the game will soon feature an optional $13 Battlegrounds Plus upgrade that will grant players a few in-game items, an XP boost, and more importantly, access to Ranked and Custom matches as well as other perks, Engadget reported.

The upgrade will be a one-time purchase similar to an expansion pack or a DLC for other games. Players won’t have to purchase the upgrade again regardless of the game’s seasonal shifts or other updates. This move is similar to a recent change implemented to “Destiny 2,” wherein access to competitive playlists was locked behind a paywall in an attempt to combat cheating.

Players who already own the game will already have the Battlegrounds Plus upgrade unlocked on their accounts as well as some extra cosmetics.

Despite the saturation of the battle royale sub-genre and the death of the massive hype surrounding these games, “PUBG” remains a popular game on Steam and enjoys an average of up to 150,000 active players per month. The game’s transition to a free-to-play model might see these numbers shoot up even higher, which may bode well for the future of “PUBG” in terms of content updates and overall enjoyability.

However, the free-to-play model also invites more cheaters to the game. Hacking is a problem that “PUBG” players still deal with even to this day, though its rampancy has somewhat died down over the years.

Fans are already calling for improved anti-cheat countermeasures before the F2P update lands over fears of cheaters coming back to ruin the game for everyone.