Recent speculation about a mobile port of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds proved true this week, with Tencent announcing a pair of PUBG remakes for smart devices. There will be some differences between the two, including the inexplicable introduction of naval battles, but there’s still no word on whether we’ll see Battlegrounds on mobile outside China.
The most surprising revelation from Friday’s trailers is that Bluehole and PUBG Corporation won’t develop either of the mobile ports. Tencent subsidiary Timi Studio will develop a game with a more arcade-y feel that includes the aforementioned introduction of naval combat. It’s not clear how significant a role that combat will play, but it’s certainly a major pivot from the PC build. The second port, which will attempt to mirror the Steam experience, will be developed by Lightspeed and Quantum Studios.
Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad says both games use Unreal Engine 4 and the trailers claim PUBG’s iOS and Android ports will be ready sometime in 2018. The lack of involvement from Bluehole and PUBG Corp. gives us some doubt about seeing the games released in Europe or North America, especially since Tencent’s distribution deal with Bluehole only applies to China. Any ports released outside the country would (at minimum) require a new agreement between the publishers. Tencent has already published several apps on the U.S. App Store, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility.
For an early look at both of the PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds mobile ports being developed by Tencent, check out the pair of trailers that debuted Friday morning. Then head down to the comments and let us know which port you’d like to see localized for North America.
For more on PUBG’ s future, revisit Brendan Greene’s thoughts on mod support, parity between the game’s graphics settings and the potential addition of a cinematic camera suite. We also spoke with PUBG Corp. CEO Chang Han Kim, back in September, who offered an explanation on the lack of rocket launchers in Battlegrounds and insight on the growing pains that come with selling 20 million copies of a competitive shooter in eight months.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is available in Early Access. The launch build is expected to hit Steam in late December and a Xbox One port is currently slated for Dec. 12.
Be sure to check back with Player.One and follow Scott on Twitter for more PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds news in 2017 and as long as PUBG Corp. supports PUBG in the years ahead.
