PUBG: Performance, Content, And Balance Plans For Console In 2020

In a lengthy blog post about the state of Playerunknown's Battlegrounds on consoles, developer PUBG Crop. has pinpointed several areas that the studio is focusing on throughout the rest of development in 2020.

The post is split into four sections, including comments on performance fixes, gameplay balances, security updates, and the gap between content on PC versus consoles. In terms of performance, the post acknowledges progress made in 2019 on improving texture pop-ins and overall stability, continuing on to say that the focus in 2020 is to continue addressing memory issues causing crashes and widespread hitching. PUBG Corp. also acknowledges the request for a higher frame rate, especially on more powerful consoles, but that the studio is committed to fixing existing issues before potentially moving forward with that.

The post also mentions that content between PC and console versions of PUBG is now down to a two-week delay for the most part, but that the studio is working towards release parity in the near future. The team is also looking into introducing more options for custom matches, but is currently weighing those up against potential performance impacts they might have. An Observer Mode is also being planned for consoles this year, allowing smaller tournaments to set up viewing streams from within the game.

In terms of balancing, the post notes that recoil on all weapons on console is already 50% less than it is on PC, but that the team is looking at splitting weapon data further to finely tune individual weapons more accurately. Hitboxes and speed calculations on vehicles are also being looked at, after console players reported that even slow-moving vehicles were doing more damage than expected. The team is also looking into community suggestions around the M249, with a balance change coming in Update 7.1 as an interim fix for its popularity.

PUBG Corp. mentions that PUBG has been the victim of intense DDoS attacks since November last year, and that a lot of work has gone into improving server infrastructure and security to mitigate their effects going forward. While the studio concedes that ruling them out entirely seems impossible, the post talks about their improvements positively without giving away details that PUBG Corp. worries might be used to evade their measures.

The post closes with PUBG Corp. committing to being more open about updates, and communicating potential changes more frequently so that it can address community concerns in a timelier manner. This has already started with a similarly large update to the state of the game on PC, and the recent release of the 7.1 update earlier this month. You can read the full blog post on PUBG's official website for the entire rundown.