PUBG is now a lot greater than the battle royale mode it as soon as pioneered. As nicely as the basic 100-player battlegrounds, the Krafton-owned megahit has aspirations within the extraction shooter area with Black Budget, as nicely as the extra console-friendly Project Valor, each in improvement. But quickly, boot up Battlegrounds itself, and also you’ll discover the developer’s newest addition to that assortment, the sci-fi co-op PvE roguelike Xeno Point. It’s maybe essentially the most excessive instance of the now nine-year-old recreation transitioning right into a platform – one clearly designed to rival the success of its battle royale competitor from the opposite facet of the world, Fortnite. Epic’s globe-conquering shooter has lengthy built-in totally different gameplay experiences into its last-player-standing cloth, together with a collaboration with the playful Lego, the musical Festival, and 1000’s of player-created modes. And now, PUBG Studios is aiming to construct the foundations of an identical ecosystem, kicking issues off with Xeno Point, which I not too long ago performed when visiting the developer in Seoul.
From spending a number of days in South Korea across the ninth anniversary of PUBG, it’s clear simply how massive a deal it’s there. Whereas Fortnite could dominate the cultural mindshare in Europe and the US, Battlegrounds nonetheless stays the king on this a part of Asia. A well-attended occasion at Korea University’s Hwajeong Gymnasium performed host to developer panels, extravagant magic reveals, and Ok-Pop performances. In the fashionable Seongsu district of the capital sits a devoted cultural area designed for gamers to take a slice of the battle royale into the true world. A themed cafe and e-sports like enviornment to play the sport in sit behind a skate park plagued by PUBG iconography, such as weapons from the sport’s collab with Ok-Pop woman group Aespa, taking issues to the subsequent degree. It’s clear from speaking to the crew at PUBG Studios that the shooter is way more than a recreation right here, however part of the tradition. You’d battle to discover one single recreation celebrated to such a level in every other nation.
It’s one thing that they’d love to replicate on the Western facet of the globe. Yes, PUBG Battlegrounds is not any nice underdog — it nonetheless sat contained in the 12 most performed video games on Steam in 2025 — however the studio desires extra. And to achieve this, it has to change considerably. There’s no denying that whereas Fortnite has developed each visually and mechanically over the previous decade or so, Battlegrounds has remained largely unchanged, hesitating to embrace event-driven seasons and pop-culture collaborations to fairly the identical extent. To some, it is nonetheless the purest battle royale, and one which comes with a pleasant layer of jank to it, even when its present incarnation is refined in contrast to its 2017 beginnings. But reasonably than follow these core concepts, or maybe even supply a “classic” model of the sport as it did quickly a few years in the past, the studio goes in a special course.
From talking with the builders in Seoul, it is clear that the Fortnite mannequin is the place they see the way forward for PUBG, with extra experimental, timed modes being lined up. That’s not to say that refinements for Battlegrounds aren’t additionally on their method, with an overhaul of the way it performs on consoles promised, together with improved controller assist and 120 fps, however there are a lot greater, wider-scope issues to come. During a presentation given by Taeseok Jang, Head of the PUBG IP Franchise Group, he admits that “PUBG is no longer viewed [internally] as a single game” and as an alternative as a “long-term franchise with the goal of becoming a global cultural icon.” The first step in direction of doing this? “Including high-quality modes developed in collaboration with external studios, as well as ongoing experimentation with user-generated content.”
One of those collabs is the upcoming Payday mode, which, fairly actually, seems to be putting Starbreeze’s heist-shooter motion into PUBG with help from the Swedish studio. It’s set to arrive in May, however earlier than that, on April 8, comes Xeno Point, a sci-fi roguelite made totally within PUBG Studios’ partitions. I acquired to check out this co-op PvE shooter mode when visiting, and, whereas it didn’t blow me away, it did present an perception into the place the way forward for the platform is headed.
Several missions exist within Xeno Point, all of which largely contain gunning down waves of alien invaders as you progress from level to level by linear ranges, every of which is drawn from a warped model of Battlegrounds’ Miramar map. Before heading out on every expedition, you’ll get to load up with acquainted PUBG weaponry and objects, such as AUGs and tablets, after which equip your self with harmful final talents that function on a cooldown. I notably loved sending a swarm of detonating bugs in direction of enemies and watching them explode. You’ll get the prospect to unlock everlasting upgrades and stat boosts in your character after every run, too, giving a way of development by every of its ten or so ranges.
It all culminates in a phase-based boss combat during which you’ll be tasked with hammering bullets into glowing weak factors on a large alien being whereas dodging all method of red-tinged projectiles. This is the place the co-op nature of Xeno Point comes to the fore as you coordinate with teammates to use your final talents along with each other. For instance, summoning a large protecting protect that you simply and your three teammates can shelter below when you frantically scramble to revive a downed pal within it.
For this demonstration, we had been dropped in with high-level gear and took on the mode’s hardest boss almost immediately, so it was laborious to get an actual grasp of what the complete expertise will finally really feel like, however from my time with Xeno Point, it appears a wonderfully serviceable shooter mode that can act as a change of tempo from Battleground’s core tension-filled motion, even when I did discover its injury sponge threats slightly uninteresting in contrast to the thrill present in its last-player-standing staple.
It’s that unique battle royale drama that has saved followers coming again to PUBG for over 9 years now, although, so I do query whether or not this foray into experimenting with extra arcadey modes is the best way ahead. The purpose could also be to rebuild “connections in Western markets and younger audiences”, as the director of PUBG: Battlegrounds, Taehyun Kim, states, however I’m undecided if a routine feeling sci-fi roguelite and the introduction of Payday — a collection whose third launch not too long ago fell method in need of expectations — is the best way to do this.
Instead, persevering with to refine the 1vs99 magic that it led the best way with might be the wiser play right here, and positively tweaking the console expertise with the aforementioned enhancements is an indication that this might be taking place alongside these extra experimental modes. But I can not assist however really feel that PUBG gamers come to the sport for its signature moments of stress, and extra ‘rough-and-ready’ feeling gunplay that it has supplied since 2017. A full, everlasting basic mode might be the reply for individuals who yearn for these early days when an Irish modder took inspiration from a 2000 Japanese movie to pioneer a shooter style inside Day Z.
Doubling down on what made thousands and thousands of gamers fall in love with the unique battle royale and emphasising these basically thrilling roots stands out as the smarter alternative, reasonably than chasing the platform that Fortnite has develop into.
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can primarily be discovered skulking round open world video games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing on the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
