The wait is nearly over as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is finally coming to the PlayStation 4, but it looks like a case of too little, too late. That is, if you're looking for a great battle royale game on consoles. The world of battle royale games is already seemingly full to the brim and players have been left hanging on when it comes to a PUBG and Sony union thanks to an exclusivity deal with Microsoft to keep the game solely on Xbox One for one year.
While a leak of PS4 PUBG was recently teased, it's all but official now. The timing for a PS4 version of PUBG comes exactly a year after the mega popular PC game found its home on Xbox One via the Xbox Game Preview program. That being said, the game's later "full" Xbox One release in September 2018 continues to plagued by performance issues, bugs, and aggressive monetization tactics and players have been airing their grievances.
Related: Here Are 3 Other Battle Royale Games You Should Pay Attention To
It began when one PSNProfiles member spotted a series of images that spoil the arrival of PUBG on PS4 and this week analyst Daniel Ahmad took to the ResetEra forums to confirm what we've all been hearing. Unfortunately, PUBG's late entry could end up costing its potential on the PlayStation platform. PlayStation 4 is in the midst of a battle royale bonanza thanks to the supersized Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and the franchise's break from tradition by taking on the trend of battle royale gaming in lieu of a single player campaign. Elsewhere, the free-to-play H1Z1 has been killing it on the PS4 as well and that's before even mentioning the juggernaut that is Fortnite.
The battle between PUBG and Fortnite has raged since long before PUBG Corp's copyright claim against Epic Games, but it looks increasingly likely that Fortnite will keep the battle royale crown. 2018 got off to a bad start for PUBG when the PC version dropped up to 50% of its players while Fortnite continued to grow. That being said, PUBG Corp looks set to continue squeezing every penny it can out of the franchise while it still remains the most popular Steam game even while dropping player counts monthly.
Although PUBG has become one of the best-selling games of all time, it hasn't stopped users who want it to be great pointing out a growing number of problems, especially when it comes to how it nickels and dimes the community while offering an unoptimized and inconsistent experience. August this year saw the introduction of the embarrassing self-titled "Fix PUBG" campaign as PUBG Corp finally attempts to address issues of graphics, framerate, and dodgy loot drops. In a case of running before it can walk, PUBG is in danger of spreading itself too thinly across PC, Xbox One, and PS4. But hey, they're selling the game, event passes, cosmetics, and loot boxes (that are locked with keys). It's all around awful from a progression standpoint when they're delivering (and have been for over a year) a problematic game experience.
Despite all the criticisms, there are sure to be some PS4 owners who are glad that they can finally play PUBG with their DualShock 4 controllers. It has been a massive year for Sony's next-gen console with exclusives like God of War and Spider-Man, meaning that even at this late stage of its life cycle, the PS4 is still shifting an impressive number of units and has now outsold the PS3. PUBG could help with holiday sales, while Xbox tries to tease something of their own coming to players for the game:
It will be a struggle for PUBG to shed its loot box and microtransaction controversy, meaning critics will likely see the PS4 release as just another quick moneymaking scheme without improving the core of the game. And for that reason, it's too late to expect a great PS4 game from PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds that rewards players for their money and time investment.
More: Battle Royale Video Games Could Make $20 Billion Next Year Alone
Sources: Eurogamer, PSNProfiles, ResetEra
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