Beyond Battle Royale: How PUBG Studios Is Redefining the Franchise for a New Decade
PUBG, or originally known as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, is the grandaddy of the battle royale genre. Since its early access phase, the game is still ticking to this day with major content updates, events and more.
We’re nearing PUBG’s 10-year anniversary, and while PUBG Studios has plenty planned for the next year, the team has begun laying the foundation for what’s to come. They’ve been teasing it, though we finally have some answers for what the next year of PUBG looks like, along with an exclusive interview with the team to discuss some of those very things.
Speaking to MP1st is Taeseok Jang, Head of PUBG IP Franchise Group who fielded our questions regarding the franchise.
PUBG Quick Chat on Redefining the Franchise
Q1. It’s been close to a decade since PUBG was released. How does Krafton keep the game relevant amid all the free-to-play games out there?
A. PUBG has evolved beyond a single game into a franchise and cultural experience that fans enjoy in diverse ways. Within the game, we continue to introduce new content and experiences, and outside the game, we work to make PUBG part of fans’ everyday lives through various touchpoints such as offline events. Ultimately, we believe what matters most is staying true to the core of why fans love PUBG, while continuing to deliver new forms of enjoyment.
Q2. How did PUBG: Xeno Point get started? Where did the inspiration come from to focus on PvE?
A. Xeno Point began with a simple question: could PUBG deliver fun in a format beyond battle royale? The tension of competition is at the heart of PUBG’s appeal, but we believed that exploring a world with friends and cooperating to clear objectives could deliver a different kind of immersion and sense of achievement. To bring that idea to life, we partnered with People Can Fly, a studio with strong experience in this kind of gameplay. The project was an experiment to offer existing fans a fresh variation on PUBG, while also creating another entry point for new players.
Q3. PvE in multiplayer games is often really hard to nail down, which is why so many don’t try it despite the clear demand from players for it. Recent releases, such as Helldiver 2 and ARC Raiders, have really seemed to change that perspective, with the latter being PvPvE. Do you think the industry is finally “cracking the code” for high-stakes PvE content, or is the difficulty of balancing multiplayer co-op still the reason developers hesitate to make these types of games/modes?
A. What makes PvE difficult is not building PvE itself, but creating a kind of fun that keeps players coming back over time. In PvP, the interaction between players naturally generates variability and tension, but in PvE, the world, enemies, and systems all have to be designed to react to player actions and generate fun on their own.
Recent titles like Helldivers 2 have done a great job showcasing the potential of co-op PvE, while ARC Raiders explores a different path with PvPvE. At PUBG, we are exploring the fun of co-op PvE through Xeno Point and a different kind of tension through Black Budget. In the end, the real question is not whether PvE can be made, but how to design an experience that players will want to keep playing over time.
Q4. PUBG was the game that popularized the Battle Royale genre. But you know, that seems to be the case for any genre dropping on the scene, where all it takes is one game to make it big. Now we’re seeing that for extraction shooters, with even PUBG having its own, Black Budget, in development. As the extraction shooter market reaches a fever pitch, how are you balancing the pressure to release a ‘trendy’ genre title with the need to provide a truly disruptive innovation that prevents Black Budget from being just another seasonal entry in a crowded field?
A. It is true that PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS popularized the battle royale genre and had a significant impact on the broader games industry. But when we start a project, our criteria for starting a new project is never about chasing trends — it is whether we can create a genuinely new kind of fun that a large number of players will love. Black Budget, in fact, began well before the extraction genre started drawing major attention, from the question of how the core strengths of PUBG could be reinterpreted within a new structure. Rather than simply following market momentum, we are focused on weaving the unique PUBG experience into a new genre to deliver something fresh and genuinely fun for players.
Q5. So let’s talk about a big elephant in the room. Krafton recently announced an “AI First” company transformation. Despite all the advancements it’s made over the last few years, AI is still in its infancy. But even so, it hasn’t exactly gone over well for gamers from a public standpoint. The announcement itself, not so much. But can you tell us what that really means, from a development perspective? What safeguards is Krafton placing into ensure things like stolen work, or “slop” don’t become an issue, or developers don’t start to over-reliance on the use of AI to the point where it’s entirely that?
A. KRAFTON views AI as a tool to expand human creativity and deliver better player experiences. Under this direction, each studio—including PUBG STUDIOS—autonomously determines how to utilize AI in ways that align with its own development philosophy and vision.
Looking ahead for the rest of 2026, the roadmap for PUBG: Battlegrounds looks very promising, despite some disappointing news. First, the team gave fans a brief update on the progress being made with the Unreal Engine 5 move, confirming changes to the original plans, which unfortunately seems to have resulted in some delay:
“In last year’s roadmap, We said that adopting Unreal Engine 5 would be part of laying the foundation for PUBG’s future expansion, and that the visual upgrade would be the first noticeable change. However, as development progressed, we reached a clear conclusion: this cannot just be a simple engine port.
Given your high expectations, we’ve partially revised our original plans, redefined our tasks, and are fully focused on delivering the most authentic PUBG experience possible. As a result, some of the service plans originally targeting the PUBG’s 10th anniversary in 2027 have also been adjusted.
As this is all part of preparing for an even bigger leap forward, we hope you’ll continue to trust us and be a little more patient. And to make sure that wait is worthwhile, we’d now like to walk you through the changes and new experiences that we have lined up for 2026.”
Despite the disappointing news, the PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS Team remains committed to delivering an exceptional experience for the rest of the year and beyond, with many upcoming updates continuing to lay the groundwork for the next chapter of the franchise.
For players, not only does this mean continued support through new content updates and seasonal offerings, but also several balancing updates, new features, mechanic changes, and even more unique modes.
Players can expect the gunplay to continue to evolve, taking in all the feedback they’ve gotten from players in the last year. Looking at 2026, the roadmap for gunplay has been built on three pillars: meta rotation, regular balance updates, and new weapons and attachments.
Meta Rotation
- The most important change is the introduction of intentionally designed meta rotations. We recognized that a fundamental shift was needed, away from a system where one or two guns dominate the top tier for too long, or where balance is measured solely by stabilizing usage rates.
- So we’re moving to major meta updates on a four-month cycle, where dominant guns and gunplay styles rotate naturally with each season. The goal is for players to look back and say, “Remember that season when SRs were incredible?” or “That was the season I played like this.” Creating that kind of “seasonal fun” is our core objective.
Regular Balance Updates
- Of course, regular balance patches will continue every two months between major shifts to fine-tune the details. And if any weapon becomes overpowered, we’ll respond immediately regardless of the patch schedule to keep the gunplay ecosystem healthy.
New Weapons and Attachments
- New weapons and attachments are finally coming to PUBG this year. We see it as a critical mission to continuously introduce fresh content so players can feel the meta evolving and enjoy new gunplay experiences.
- This April, iconic new attachments Hybrid Scope and Tilted Grip will be added. Then in August, a powerful new weapon capable of shaking up the meta will also arrive.
- Given PUBG’s unique identity built around the looting experience, simply increasing the number of weapons isn’t necessarily the right answer. So while we add new weapons and attachments, we also plan to remove a select few underutilized weapons that no longer contribute to the ecosystem this coming June.
The team is also hard at work on bringing more console improvements, which translate to better performance (and more). They remain committed to improving the console experience this year and well beyond.
Perhaps one of the more surprising things that is coming is the new modes. We already said the introduction of PvE with Xeno Point, but it doesn’t end there, as the team is working on even more modes that expand beyond the Battlegrounds.
PAYDAY
- As previewed last year, PAYDAY mode is a full co-op heist mode. Instead of just mindless shooting and breaching, it requires smart planning, role division and stealth. Plan the vault break with your squad, make split-second calls in unpredictable situations, and experience the signature thrill of the heist genre layered on top of PUBG’s gunplay.
New Genre Project Development
- Lastly, we’re preparing another leap for the winter season. It’s too early to share the title or genre, but we’re developing this project to offer a completely different flavor of fun. It will be an exciting showcase of just how far PUBG’s gunplay and action can stretch.
“The satisfaction of overcoming boss raids, the thrill of cooperative team play, and the excitement of tactical operations. Every new challenges we introduced today started from one question : “Can we deliver more kinds of fun inside PUBG?” There are countless games out there with all kinds of joy to offer. We want to bring those experiences one by one into the space you already love. This year marks the beginning of that journey, and we hope you look forward to the new experiences ahead.”
You can read the rest of the roadmap on their post here.
It’s certainly going to be an interesting year for PUBG fans, though one thing is clear: the game is evolving beyond being a Battle Royale.
How fans will ultimately react to that remains to be seen, but it certainly has us excited for the future of the franchise. With all the planned updates coming to PUBG: Battlegrounds in the next year, and new titles within the franchise, such as Black Budget, on their way, the future of PUBG looks brighter—and more diverse—than ever before.
Whether it can successfully “crack the code” on high-stakes PvE or carve out a permanent home in the extraction shooter market, the studio clearly isn’t content with resting on its laurels.
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