PUBG MOBILE is turning four years old, and it's been, well, quite a journey. The game has expanded massively, going so far beyond how it started with new maps, game modes, events and more customization options than you'll find in any other battle royale. Let's take a deeper look at how PUBG MOBILE has evolved over the years.
Way back in 2018, PUBG MOBILE launched with two maps, the glorious Erangel and the toasty desert Miramar, as well as the standard battle royale mode. But in the past four years the game has expanded exponentially, adding four more maps--including the mobile exclusive Livik--tons of new modes and events, and an incredible collection of cosmetics and customization options via the seasonal Royale Passes.
After launch it didn’t take long for PUBG MOBILE to start expanding, as the first year brought the snowy Vikendi map to our phones and unleashed the inaugural edition of the spooky Halloweeks event.
PUBG MOBILE also wasted no time getting its esports infrastructure up and going in that first year--an effort that has paid off big time with more than 500,000 teams participating in PUBG MOBILE ESPORTS events since the game was released. Likewise, PUBG MOBILE has heavily invested in cutting-edge anti-cheat measures since the very beginning, which has been critical to its success.
While that first year was exciting, it was in Year 2 when things started to get really interesting.
PUBG MOBILE got things going in a big way in 2019 with its first major crossover event for Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which let players earn an incredible Godzilla costume that they could wear into battle. That summer also saw the introduction of the game’s team deathmatch mode. It was a welcome addition since it allowed for more bite-sized chunks of play.
Just a couple of months later we got a new seasonal mode called Infection. The asymmetric competitive mode pits a small group of zombie players against living players in an attempt to infect them. It’s still a big fan favorite and is always exciting when they bring this mode back.
Beyond sprucing up the game itself, PUBG MOBILE took part in an important environmental initiative. They teamed up with Global Green in 2019 for the #Fight4TheAmazon campaign to save the Amazon Rainforest, which planted 150,000 trees and helped support underserved communities that have been impacted by climate change disasters.
PUBG MOBILE continued its commitment to bringing fresh experiences to its players with the addition of the Cold Front Survival mode in 2020. This mode turned the temperature down even further on the already freezing cold Vikendi map and forced players to keep themselves warm so they didn’t freeze to death on the battleground. And we also got a key new accessibility feature, colorblind mode, which helped make the game more inclusive to its players. The fans asked for it, and PUBG MOBILE delivered.
And then the Mad Miramar update arrived.
This update made the Miramar map even prettier than it already was and then added dynamic weather with sandstorms that can spontaneously pop up at any moment. And they threw in a sick new race track for good measure. Those sandstorms weren’t just about fun and games, though. They also served as a warning about climate change in the real world--the new version of Miramar also added in-game messaging to remind us about the need to protect our planet.
PUBG MOBILE continued to evolve from there, getting its first map that the PC version didn’t have: the bright and colorful Livik. It was by far the smallest map in the game at the time, but that was a good thing. The compact nature of the map meant games would be much shorter--which can be convenient for a game you’re playing on your phone.
It wasn’t long after Livik launched that PUBG MOBILE achieved its 1.0 update, which brought a revamped version of the Erangel map, massively reduced install pack size without any hit to performance or looks, an updated version of the explosive Payload Mode, and a massive crossover event with KPOP superstars BlackPink. Then they capped off the year with a Metro Exodus crossover event.
But as we all know, 2020 was a very eventful year outside of our screens as well as in PUBG MOBILE. After the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, PUBG MOBILE held a Play As One event in which players could raise money for healthcare workers simply by sprinting in classic matches. The further players sprinted, the more money would be donated to the Direct Relief foundation--the total ended up being a whopping $1.85 million.
PUBG MOBILE started off 2021 the same way it ended 2020: very busily. The game dropped yet another new map, Karakin, another bite-sized map to go alongside Livik. Karakin is a desert map, like Miramar but with a totally different and fresh flavor thanks to its North African locale.
Later that summer PUBG MOBILE hit its 1.5 update, and that brought with it the Ignition Mode and its own custom version of Erangel where a rich tech company has spruced the place up a bit. A Tesla crossover event started at the same time, allowing players to build a self-driving Model Y at a new Tesla GigaFactory location.
The Summer of PUBG MOBILE continued with the 2021 World Invitational in conjunction with Gamers Without Borders--the best teams in the world faced off for a $3 million charity prize pool, with the money going to each team’s charity of choice. It was the biggest esports event in the world, AND it did a lot of good.
The game rounded out the year with a crossover with the Netflix series Arcane, dropping a ton of cosmetics for the fans, as well as yet another dope new event mode, the Flora Menace, which added some unsettling floating platforms and some rather invasive plant life to the Erangel map.
So far in 2022 PUBG MOBILE has kept up that frantic pace, starting with a spectacular Spider-Man: No Way Home crossover event in January to go along with the major Aftermath update--I guess that Spider-Verse is bigger than we thought.
Aftermath, meanwhile, is a stunning new mode in which Livik is dealing with a volcanic eruption, which shakes that map up in a big way since it’s so compact. And the Aftermath update also gave us the new 8v8 Team Deathmatch map, Santorini.
There’s no stopping PUBG MOBILE in 2022 either--the battle royale just kicked off a crossover event with the video game Warframe that’ll run through April 19. So it’s safe to expect 2022 is gonna be a big year for PUBG MOBILE.
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