Chinese game giant Tencent announced in November that it would be bringing a version of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds to mobile devices in China. It seemed like an impossible task given the game’s less-than-ideal performance on PC and Xbox One, but two separate games are now in their testing stage on the Chinese iOS and Android stores, and the footage we’ve seen has us hopeful they come to other regions.
The first of the two offerings is called PUBG: Exhilarating Battlefield (some have translated it as “Thrilling Battlefield”), and it’s designed to emulate the basic structure of the original PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. You are dropped onto a giant map filled with 99 other players all looking to be the last one standing, and you can fully customize your character with many of the same tools available on the other versions. It includes first-person mode and third-person mode, and without the virtual buttons on the screen, it’s quite difficult to tell it apart from the PC version. Frankly, the framerate in the mobile game often looks better than it does on Xbox One X.
The other game is PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds: Army Attack, and it’s a little bit different. In addition to containing naval battles, it has snappier combat that feels like it was designed with the platform in mind. Kills come quickly, and large hit markers help you to determine if you’re doing damage. Like its sibling game, it runs at a buttery-smooth framerate on the iPhone X.
So, which of the two has taken off in China? Actually, both of them have. Industry analyst Daniel Ahmad revealed that the two games had 75 million players preregister, and they are currently first and second on the Chinese iOS download charts.
Given the original PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds‘ popularity on both PC and Xbox One, the latter of which already has 4 million players in just a few months, it appears the two mobile titles are certain t be a hit overseas. We’re hoping Tencent expands its vision for a global launch, as well as a version on the Nintendo Switch. All we want is to eat a chicken dinner with the power of the Joy-Con controllers.
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