Previously, the smash-hit multiplayer game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds included a personal item-trading system, designed to allow friends to give their unwanted gear to a friend for free, in addition to the “market trade” system run through Steam’s marketplace. The personal system was implemented in good faith, but the developer has temporarily disabled it after it found third-party websites facilitating re-selling.
“We’ve seen a few cases of players using the personal trade function to sell items using third-party sites. That is essentially an abuse of the system,” PUBG Corporation said in a post on Steam. “To prevent this, we’re temporarily turning off personal trades while we search for a better solution. Once we figure out a way to prevent abuse, the restriction will be lifted.”
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is far from the only game that has seen controversy surrounding paid item trades. YouTube and Twitch personalities Tom “Syndicate” Cassell and Trevor “TMartn” Martin previously ran the gambling site CSGO Lotto, which allowed Counter-Strike: GO players to sell their unwanted weapons. The two hadn’t disclosed that they were the owners of the site when they made videos showing them “winning” and were largely left off the hook by the Federal Trade Commission for their dishonesty. United Kingdom-based YouTube user Craig Douglas wasn’t so lucky, as he was ordered to pay more than 90,000 pounds for doing the same type of thing with his FUT Galaxy website.
The disabling of the item-trading system wasn’t the only recent update for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. From now through Sunday, May 6, PC players can head to the Miramar map for the return of the respawn-enabled War mode. The mode features 10 teams of five, and players are returned to the starting plane after they’re killed.
The Miramar map is currently only available on PC to the general public, but players in the Xbox One version’s test servers have access, as well.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is available now for Xbox One and PC, and on iOS and Android devices as PUBG Mobile. The games don’t support cross-play, though the mobile version is largely a port of its PC sibling. Unlike the PC and Xbox One versions, PUBG Mobile is free-to-play.
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