It’s difficult to imagine any smart device-owning consumer with a passion for video games not being at least slightly familiar with PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, the recently released battle royale shooter that asks players to outlast 96-99 other members of the community. The game has dominated headlines and Twitch streams for months now. It’s also on pace to be one of the year’s biggest sellers. And a new deal with Facebook for a weekly stream series should help bridge the gap between PUBG and the seven people still unfamiliar with the game.
Beginning this week, Bluehole will host a weekly PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds live stream on Facebook Live. The broadcast will begin every Monday at 10 p.m. (EDT) and run for three hours. Some streams will feature members of the PUBG community, including popular content creators, while others will be hosted by community managers. We didn’t get any specifics on the stream format -- like whether the broadcast might replace traditional reveals or feature announcements -- or how often Bluehole will rely on PUBG community members.
The announcement also featured a statement from Bluehole VP and Executive Producer Chang Han Kim. “This new initiative with Facebook will bring our passionate fan base closer to our development team,” he said. “Livestreaming has been very important to the growth of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. We believe that featuring PUBG livestreamers on Facebook further strengthens our commitment to the community while extending the reach of our game to a global audience.”
The popular battle royale shooter added another entry to its rapidly growing list of achievements. Last month, Bluehole confirmed four million copies of PUBG have already been sold on Steam, a staggering number most studios would eagerly accept. And that support gave PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds the momentum needed to briefly unseat Counter-Strike: Global Offensive from the number-two spot on Steam’s list of Top Games by current player count. Dota 2 and CS:GO have maintained vice-like grips on the top spots for several years now. But PUBG managed to slide past Valve’s team shooter for a few moments on Sunday night before returning to number three on the list.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is currently available in Early Access. The game is expected to see a full release later this year and will make the jump to Xbox One in early 2018.
Be sure to check back with Player.One and follow Scott on Twitter for more PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds news in 2017 and however long Bluehole supports PUBG in the years ahead.
