Battlegrounds now, I guess • Eurogamer.net

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is a bit of a mouthful, but at least the game has a handy acronym of PUBG to make things a bit simpler. What’s that, they’ve tacked an extra bit onto the end? Oh.

It appears that Krafton has re-branded PUBG to PUBG: Battlegrounds – with the new name now appearing on the game’s social media feeds and Steam (via PC Gamer). That’s right, it’s now PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds: Battlegrounds.

This apparently happened sometime in July, and appears to have something to do with Krafton’s plans to create a PUBG universe.

“Krafton is actively expanding the PUBG brand through a variety of new experiences set in its universe,” the company told PC Gamer. “Rebranding PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds to PUBG: Battlegrounds is the first step in us realising this vision. Additional titles in the franchise will carry the PUBG name, as you see with our upcoming game, PUBG: New State.”

New State, by the way, is an upcoming mobile game that’s essentially a futuristic sequel to PUBG Mobile. There’s also been talk of an upcoming PUBG-universe game codenamed Project Cowboy, while space horror game The Callisto Protocol will (somehow) be a part of the same universe. That one doesn’t have the PUBG acronym planted in front of it yet, however.

I guess it does make a little sense to rename the original PUBG to Battlegrounds to separate it from New State, but placing it next to the acronym does sound pretty weird. This also hasn’t resolved our ongoing argument about whether it’s pronounced PUB-Gee or PUB-Guh. (It’s PUB-Guh, obviously.)

In other news, PUBG is going free-to-play for a week to coincide with its Blackpink collaboration. (Blackpink is a K-pop supergroup, if you hadn’t heard of them). The free play week starts on 10th August, and will last until the 16th.