Microsoft announced that Player Unknown’s Battleground would be free for the weekend. This is the first time in Player Unknown’s history the game will go free to play on Xbox.
This means that Xbox Live players will be able to play the game, without even needing a Gold account. This is great news for anyone wanting to try out the game before buying it. This move isn’t of course from PUBG’S heart of gold. This is rather a last resort for the game to attract more players.
This last-ditch effort comes as a result of a rapidly waning player base that has lost the interest in the game or found better or more interesting games. The number one such game is of course Fortnite.
The cartoony arcade-style battle royale has been a massive success for Epic Games; the studio behind Fortnite. The game has brought in bucketloads of cash for the studio and has been become part of mainstream culture.
Meanwhile, Player Unknown has been left biting Fortnite’s dust. Before Fortnite became a thing, PUBG was the battle royale of choice. All the top streamers were streaming this game, and its fanbase spread to Korea as well.
This might also be a scream for help from Microsoft to retain PUBG as its exclusive title. There have been a lot of rumors flying around that PUBG might be coming to Sony’s PlayStation 4. So Microsoft will lose exclusive rights to Player Unknown’s.
PUBG has been slowly losing popularity for quite some time now. It’s not just Microsoft that is losing players. PC players have been turned off the game as well. Several reports have stated that Steam’s PUBG player base has fallen below 1 million for the first time this year.
These stats come straight from Steam’s analytics. Video game streaming analysis website Streamlabs suggest weak numbers for the game. According to StreamLabs, PUBG has lost hours streamed by more than thirty percent.
Whereas, Fortnite’s streaming hours have grown by a massive 128 percent. One of the major reasons for PUBG losing out, is its serious, at times slow gameplay. On the other hand, Fortnite has intense, fast-paced gameplay.
The game’s looks seem to attract a younger audience as well, as there is no bloodshed. The game also adds a lot of skins that have a creative element to the game.
PUBG’s developer Bluehole will need to make some huge changes if it wants to stand even a fighting chance of competing with Epic Games. These are tough times for the once mighty PUBG. PUBG will need to change its business formula.
Fortnite’s biggest success is due to the free to play formula it adopted. The game is free to play for everyone. Players just have to pay for cosmetics, which is optional. These cosmetic items don’t even give any sort of advantage.
If PUBG wants to try to compete with Fortnite, it will have to adopt a similar free to play formula. Maybe then the game will see an uprise in popularity. Xbox is also making Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 free to play this weekend.
So, what are you waiting for?
Fazeel Ashraf
Areen Zahra
