PlayerUnknown's BattleGrounds, the game that kicked off the current battle royale craze at the top of the games industry, has recently undergone a name change. The game's name has been changed to PUBG: Battlegrounds, which, as many have pointed out, feels pretty redundant. It seems laughable that the grandfather of all battle royale shooters would now go by PlayerUnknown's BattleGrounds: Battlegrounds. As it turns out, there is a good reason as to why the developer chose to change its name, but that doesn't make its new title any less goofy sounding for the uninformed.
While PUBG: Battlegrounds used to be at the very top of the battle royale genre, it's fallen off in recent years in favor of free-to-play battle royales like Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Call of Duty: Warzone. While it certainly has a steady fanbase, it isn't front and center of the genre anymore. All that might be changing soon, however, as the PUBG Corporation and Krafton seek to expand the PUBG brand.
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The expansion of the PUBG brand is the true reason for the additional "Battlegrounds" subtitle that's been added to PUBG. Soon, with the addition of multiple properties that span different media, "PUBG" will no longer just refer to the battle royale shooter. Instead, it's becoming the name for the franchise and the name "Battlegrounds" will refer to the battle royale. While it may be initially confusing, it's likely that, colloquially, fans will continue referring to the battle royale as PUBG, with the new "Battlegrounds" subtitle reserved for official press releases and media clarity.
Recent announcements from the PUBG Corporation and Krafton detail exactly how the PUBG universe is going to expand. Back when it was announced during The Game Awards 2020, fans of The Callisto Protocol scratched their heads when the game's director Glen Schofield said it would be set in the PUBG universe. At that point, the PUBG universe consisted solely of PUBG, but with the recent announcements of PUBG: New State and the untitled PUBG animated series, the fictional universe is beginning to grow. It's still unclear exactly what sort of connections The Callisto Protocol will have to the expanding PUBG universe, but hopefully, as more PUBG media releases in the coming months, that will be clarified.
PUBG: New State is coming exclusively to mobile devices, set for release later this year. It's unclear how much New State will differ from the vanilla Battlegrounds, but it seems to be different enough that the PUBG Corporation views it as a separate game. There's no word on if there are any plans to bring the game to consoles and PC, but the game seems like the next step for those looking to get more invested in the newly expanding PUBG universe.
In addition to PUBG: New State and The Callisto Protocol, an animated adaptation for PUBG is in the works with Adi Shankar. Among other things, Shankar was the executive producer and showrunner for the Netflix Castlevania series that recently aired its final episode. While reported to still be in the very early stages of its development, the show will hopefully expand on the limited lore that's already been established by PUBG: Battlegrounds. There's still no official title for the project yet, however, it's likely to follow the naming conventions set by Battlegrounds and New State, meaning that it will likely have the "PUBG"prefix.
PUBG: Battlegrounds is available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
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