The Rise of PUBG Mobile The Battle Royale King

The Final Version of the Battle Royale Concept

When Brendan Greene (creator of the iconic ARMA 2 Mod DayZ: Battle Royale) decided to immortalize his gamer tag or online handle PlayerUnknown through an online game inspired by the 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale called PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, he also set the foundations of what would become one of the biggest genres in competitive gaming.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, for the most part, is not the first title that made use of the battle royale concept. It was a title borne out of ARMA 2. The difference being is that PUBG features bigger maps and components that are more random. To that end, Greene added some pop culture elements and some frying pan on the side to create what he would consider as the “final version” of the Battle Royale concept. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds officially made its way into the gaming populace on December 20, 2017, and the rest is history.

 

 

The Mobile Battlegrounds

PUBG Mobile may carry the same brand as the PC and console version but the game is a league of its own. For starters, PUBG Mobile first made its way into the colossal Chinese gaming community before the rest of the world. Two versions of the game were unleashed; the first is an abridged version of the original game called PUBG: Exhilarating Battlefield and PUBG: Army Attack that includes arcade elements.

Of the two versions, the Exhilarating Battlefield is the one that made its way to the international audience. Thus the birth of PUBG Mobile, which made its international debut on March 19, 2018.

 

 

PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite

PlayerUnknown’s Mobile counterpart for obvious reasons is not as glamorous when it comes to graphics compared to the PC and console versions. Nevertheless, this version allows you to enjoy the iconic PUBG experience free of charge. For the most part, PUBG Mobile requires android 4.3 and up to run, however, to broaden its scope of coverage, the game’s publisher Tencent also unleashed an even lighter version of the game called PUBG Mobile Lite.

PUBG Mobile Lite can run on android 4.0, which brings life to those old mobile devices lying around. PUBG Mobile Lite is still the same game except for a 40-player instead of 100. Not to mention that the game does perform great on low-end devices. The game soft-launched in 2018 in the Philippines with the rest of Asia and Europe in 2019.

 

 

PUBG Mobile in eSports

The rise of eSports popularity has become one of the driving mechanics that led to the global popularity of competitive gaming. With the audience of the platform growing by the millions each year, it was not long before competitive mobile gaming jumped into the fray. That said, months after the global launch of PUBG Mobile, its publisher Tencent staged a $600,000 international competition called PUBG Mobile Star Challenge.

This massive 3-day event featured 20 of the best PUBG Mobile teams across the planet. Representations from 16 countries across the globe battle it out in Dubai, UAE on November 29 – December 1, 2018. At stake aside from global fame is a whopping $200,000 first prize won by RRQ Athena of Thailand, $100,000 second prize grabbed by China’s The Comfortable Penguin Team, with the $50,000 third prize and $10,000 fourth prize pocketed by another Chinese Team’s Douyu LH and Douyu GT respectively.

 

 

Keep on Playing

PUBG Mobile, for the most part, is not as prestigious and as glamourous compared to its pc and console counterpart. Nevertheless, the game provides a decent competitive platform for the most common gaming devices accessible, which is the smartphone. Despite the criticisms and the lack of acceptance of the so-called gamers in the industry. However, at the end of the day, gaming is just gaming, which is a fun way to test and show off your skills, the rest of the elements are just an added bonus. As one of the iconic video game sayings goes “A hero need not speak. When he is gone, the world will speak for him.” So keep on gaming.