The PUBG mobile game has begun rolling out worldwide, though you might have difficulty picking it out of a lineup of dodgy clones and rip-offs.
Last year, Bluehole announced a deal with Chinese giant Tencent to bring their world-beating battle royale game to mobile.
A month ago, the PUBG mobile game launched in China. Not only is the game not entirely terrible, but the Chinese release was also accompanied by a badass live-action trailer.
But PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has been losing ground to Fortnite Battle Royale of late. The all ages-friendly appeal of Fornite, combined with its free price tag and its own mobile game, has seen Epic’s game grow and grow.
Presumably keen to not allow Fortnite to steal any further ground – and following a surprise “launch” in Canada last week – Bluehole and Tencent have begun rolling out the PUBG mobile game worldwide.
Owing to the prevalence of terrible clones, the real PUBG mobile game can be difficult to locate in app stores. Make sure you’re downloading the one published by Tencent, and not any of the other questionable shovelware. (Here are links to the Android and iOS downloads, to save you the risk.)
And do you know what? It’s actually not bad at all. The on-screen controls take some getting used to, and the visual fidelity can be pretty poor on lower-end devices, but it’s playable. It’s fun. And most important, it’s recognisable as PUBG, in spite of the port to mobile.
Also, and not wanting to blow our own trumpets here, but we’re still badasses, even on mobile:
This was my very first game of PUBG mobile, and the chicken dinner was delicious. Bring it, mobile warriors.
