Hello readers, and welcome to our Player Unknown’s Battleground (from here on out, let’s call it PUBG to make it simpler) complete guide! This is the article for you in case you want to know more about the most played title on Steam and betting options offered here.
Today we are going to discuss subjects such as the game’s development process up to date, the electronic sports scene starting to appear around the battle royale genre, the organizations that are already sponsoring players and much more, including a little extrapolation into what we can expect in the short and long terms for the Player Unknown’s Battleground. Match bets are also coming into the market, so we will cover that topic too.
History of PUBG
PUBG is developed and published by the same company, PUBG Corp, lead by Brendan Green (his online ID is Player Unknown, that’s where the name of game comes from). This Corp is a subsidiary of a South Korean company that got in contact with Brendan and offered him an opportunity to work on a new battle royale concept.
Going back a little bit in history, Brendan has been involved in that genre for quite a while, as one of the pioneers of the entire scene. He started off by making a mod for Arma 2, then moved his efforts to Arma 3, when he got contacted by Sony Online who hired him as a consultant to help in the development of their title H1Z1: Battle Royale.
H1Z1 quickly gathered a huge amount of players and many online communities started popping up because of the game. This genre hit the mainstream and there was no looking back.
Shortly after he left Sony is when our PUBG story begins: Brendan got a call from South Korea and within a week he was already at BlueHole‘s headquarters working on the new product. His role there is creative director, and he’s been given autonomy to do as he pleases with the project (he even said so himself that his relationship with the executives in BlueHole is very strong).
The game started being developed in early 2016, with a team of about 35 devs, and a year later that number was already at the 70s mark, enabling the release to be launched fairly quickly (it started being sold as early access while the devs kept working nonstop on the engine/playability). The production and coding is still full steam ahead – despite the game being already playable and being the most played title on Steam, it’s still not a finished product in Brendan’s eyes.
About the game
PUBG was released for Windows in March 2017. So far, the product has more than 13 million copies sold worldwide (through Steam) and a peak record of more than 2 million guys playing simultaneously (over the past couple months, it is constantly ranked #1 in player numbers on the Steam platform, beating eSports like Dota 2 and Counter Strike: Global Offensive, two huge titles with well established communities and scene. The success is so big that BlueHole partnered up with Microsoft and they’re working on releasing a version that will be fully playable for XboX One by the end of 2017 (or very early into 2018).
Battlegrounds is a very action packed game from start to finish. Players load up into a deserted island while they wait for up to 100 other users to connect to the match. Once everyone is ready and the countdown is over, all of them are loaded into a plane that flies over the map (the map is 8km x 8km with random vehicles and weapon spawns, making every single match very different from the others).
While the plane is making its way across the map, guys can parachute out of it and land wherever they choose. Usually, the zones with highest chances of good spawns (weapons, armor, sights, healing) attract more users – that forces everyone to decide if they want a high risk and high reward landing spot (having to fight against more guys to survive and equip themselves) or a lower high but also lower chance of getting the best equipment in the match by landing in an isolated location. Players start with no gear, so it is a must that they land and try to grab the best weapons and armor they can find in other to survive against the other opponents.
The match can be played in a few different modes. Regarding perspective, there are first and third mode matchmaking options – both modes have their own advantages and disadvantages, but most of the playerbase has been opting to play on first person lately, claiming that it is more balanced and with less RNG involved (rewarding the most skilled throughout the matches).
The map can also be played as Solo (you vs everyone else), Duo (50 teams of 2) or squad (squads contain 3 or 4 players. One other aspect that may change for each different match is the weather: currently there are 3 options: sunny, rainy and foggy – each one of these changes the way strategies around the map work, making everyone adjust to them (for example, in a foggy setup you can’t see very far, making close quarter combats more frequent – guys have to adjust their positioning accordingly).
The game only ends when there is 1 survivor (solo player, duo team or squad) out of everyone who joined the match. To avoid people from camping in a corner of the map (every single round would last days if that were the case), there is a system in place: every couple minutes (like 2 to 5), the playable area shrinks down towards a random location (also making each round different). Anyone who decides to stay outside of this area (or somehow doesn’t make it through in time) starts taking periodic damage – the first few shrinking areas don’t do much damage, which means that you can take a little bit more time to get on the playable zone, but as the round progresses, the “gas” damage becomes unbearable, so whoever fails to reach the safe zone dies very quickly.
Once a round ends, players are given gold coins (the in game currency) based on their performances: Number of kills, total damage output, and final ranking position. These coins can be used to buy crates that drop cosmetic skins (clothes only as of date) that can be switched before queueing up for another round. The game has no pay to win microtransactions, there is nothing you can spend money on to get an early advantage against other guys – it is all decided on skill!
Betting types for PUBGs competitive matches
Since PUBG hasn’t been around for long (and neither has the battle royale genre), there aren’t many competitive matches going on. There are a few tournaments but they’re very hard to organize because of the big number of squads in a single round, so we haven’t seen online cups or smaller events yet – this means that the betting opportunities for the game only come around when there is a big competition going on.
The most common bet type we have seen in the past events for PUBG is “Winner of the series“. As you will be able to see below on our competitive rules section, the rounds are played until a team reaches a certain amount of points and is declared the winner. Before the series starts you can bet on which of the 20-25 competing squads will come out on top as the victor.
This is a very risky bet considering the big number of possible outcomes, but the better odds make up for it, you just need a very good understanding of the teams to make good predictions and profit (we have some articles on the site giving some general betting and researching tips, go check them out if you’re interested)
Extrapolating a little bit into the future, with the upcoming PUBG events it is very likely that a bigger number of types of bets will be available for gambling. A classic one is the “winner of round X”, which would probably have even bigger odds than “winner of the series” and be much harder to get it right in compensation.
Another betting type that could come up is “most number of kills” both throughout a single round or the entire series – this would be very interesting as some teams play more aggressively than others and might end up with more kills even if they end up losing early.
It is too early to tell, but you can be sure that these options and much more will be soon on every eSports betting site because no one wants to lose out on the huge market that PUBG has been acquiring for itself.
Competitive rules
In this section, you will find a comprehensive list of the competitive rules for Battlegrounds events. Some rules may change depending on the organizer but they mostly adopt the same general approach for fair series.
- Competition Format: The map must be hosted by an admin and the rounds are played in Solo, Duo or Squad mode, always totaling 100 players in all 3.
- All rounds must be played on the same perspective setting: either first person or third person (usually the events have both categories, as the playerbase is split between the 2 options)
- Custom content is not allowed: players can’t use custom skins, sprites, weapons, crosshairs, nothing of the sort. Everything used has to be within the latest released game client.
- All teams and players must join the server within 10 minutes of the starting announcement. Failing to do so may result in penalties leading up to disqualification (if a team keeps breaking this rule or in conjunction with others).
- Admins always have the final say in any decision there is to be made, and the players have to respect their decision as they’re the highest authority on the event.
- Scripts are not allowed to be used. Third party programs (cheats or not) are also not allowed (punishment is harder for this rule most of the times).
- Abusing exploits to gain unfair advantages is forbidden. Same goes for abusing any glitch in the game (such as to reach locations not intended on the map).
The ranking system used by the Gamescom Invitational 2017 is as follows (the number of points for each category might change in other events, but not by much):
5 points for each kill in Solo mode
4 points per kill on Duo and Squad
500 points for the winning team
360 points for the runner-up, and
290 points for 3rd place.
At the end of series (usually 3 maps are played), the team with the most total points is declared the winner.
Biggest Tournaments up to date
PUBG Global Championship (PGC)
The PUBG Global Championship, often referred to simply as PGC, is the most important event in the PUBG esports calendar and represents the official world championship of the game.
Held at the end of each competitive season, PGC brings together the best teams from all major regions, including EMEA, Americas, APAC, and Asia. Teams qualify through regional leagues and global series events, making participation itself a mark of elite status.
PGC is played entirely on offline LAN, with strict competitive rules and a standardized scoring system that rewards both placement and kills. The tournament typically spans several weeks and features group stages, survival rounds, and grand finals.
Due to its prestige, global viewership, and high stakes, the PUBG Global Championship attracts the highest betting interest of any PUBG event. Bookmakers usually offer a wide range of markets, including match winners, map winners, outright champions, and live betting options.
PUBG Global Series (PGS)
The PUBG Global Series is a collection of major international tournaments held throughout the year and serves as the backbone of the modern PUBG competitive ecosystem.
Unlike PGC, which is a single year-ending event, PGS tournaments are spread across the season and feature top teams from multiple regions competing on LAN. Performance in these events often contributes to qualification or seeding for the Global Championship.
PGS events are known for their consistent format, high production value, and strong competitive balance. Teams that perform well here usually establish themselves as favorites heading into the biggest tournaments of the year.
From a betting perspective, the Global Series offers frequent opportunities, with multiple events per season and relatively predictable participation from top-tier teams. This makes PGS particularly popular among bettors who follow PUBG esports closely.
PUBG Nations Cup (PNC)
The PUBG Nations Cup stands out from other tournaments by using a national team format instead of traditional esports organizations. Players are selected to represent their countries, creating a competition that feels closer to international sports tournaments.
Each participating nation fields a roster of its best players, and matches are played on LAN under official PUBG esports rules. The event typically features fewer teams than PGC or PGS, but the national pride factor adds an extra layer of intensity.
The Nations Cup has proven to be extremely popular with fans, especially in regions with strong PUBG communities. Betting interest is also high, as national matchups tend to attract casual viewers as well as experienced esports bettors.
While it is not held as frequently as other events, the PUBG Nations Cup remains one of the most anticipated tournaments whenever it returns to the competitive calendar.
Best PUBG teams
Cloud 9 is a huge organization, everyone knows that. As a result, they usually sponsor very strong rosters across all games they delve in. PUBG is no different, and they are currently among the best teams in the world – proof of this is the fact that they were one of the first crews to guarantee a direct invite to the next IEM event (in Oakland, next November).
Their current squad consists of Moody, Chappie, Frolicer and SolidFPS – all of them very skilled players (mechanically and strategically). Chappie and SolidFPS were the Duo FPP team in the latest PUBG event, the Gamescom Invitational back in August.
We can expect great things from this Cloud 9 roster. Let’s see how they perform in Oakland being one of the favorites to lift the trophy.
Same as Cloud 9, Team Liquid is a force to be reckoned in all the titles they field their players. The squad has also managed to make deep runs in the last Gamescom invitational and have been invited to IEM Oakland already.
Their current roster is Hayz, Scoom, Molnman and ollywood. They usually employ some different strategies in their matches, such as landing very far away from the plane’s flight path to have more potential loot to themselves (but they lose a lot of time parachuting as a tradeoff).
We will only see their skill level when the next event rolls around, but expectations are high for this Liquid squad.
Yet another huge powerhouse in the eSports scene, TSM has Viss, aimPR, SmaK and BreaK in their roster. These players also played really well and placed deep in the last Gamescom Invitational, guaranteeing themselves a spot for next IEM and a chance to fight for their share of $200.000 USD.
As with the other teams, we can only gauge their skill through the player’s daily streams, but they usually play DUOs and not in a tryhard mode as they’d play in a big LAN setting – so we can only wait and see what TSM can bring to the table in Oakland.
Judging from recent results, we can safely say that Luminosity Gaming has the best PUBG roster currently. That’s because they were the ones victorious back in August at the Gamescom Invitational Squad Mode. Since this was the biggest LAN held for PUBG and they won, they are easily one of the favorites for the upcoming events.
LG’s roster is Ninja, JP2, Drassel and Chipzy.
Noble’s squad consists of Boom, Edakulous, DazFPS and Interrogate. They were also present at the last event (GI 2017) and made a name for themselves with good performances against very tough opponents, by making some very deep runs in most rounds.
They can definitely upset some bigger organizations in the upcoming IEM, so keep your eyes out for these 4 professionals and their amazing coordination.
The last known invite for IEM Oakland went to Gorilla Core: MeTor, mxey, Jembty and Haxete. They are a relatively unknown team when you put them up for comparison with the ones listed above – but since PUGB is such a new eSports title, we can never say for sure which squads are the best this early into the competitive scene.
One thing is for certain – if they got a direct invite to IEM it means they can hang around the big boys, and they’re going to try to prove it by showcasing some good results.
The future of PUBG – what can we expect?
Battlegrounds peaked at 2.279.084 players this month. For comparison: Dota 2’s peak is around 1.2 million players online simultaneously, and CS GO’s peak is roughly 850 thousand guys online. And these are 2 well established names in the market both as eSports and as games with insanely huge playerbases. What PUBG has accomplished is no easy feat, and we probably won’t see another title grow so fast in such a small time frame in the near future.
What’s more impressive about all this is that the growth still seems to have some steam left – the product is not yet fully developed, with many features yet to come, such as better optimization allowing guys with worse PCs to play without lagging and more mode options for all regions.
With all this being said, it is safe to assume that Player Unknown’s Battleground is going to be one of the main titles in the gaming scene for the next couple of years, at least. The action packed rounds have a good mix of suspense and adrenaline (and replayability due to the factors listed on the early sections of this article), enabling players to go game for hours and hours without getting bored or tired.
PUBG as an eSport
It is pretty clear to everyone that the game will excel in the near future, with more and more people purchasing it daily. But what the eSports scene – where will Battlegrounds land in all this?
Brendan (the creative director for Bluehole) has some tough decisions to make in order to help PUBG reach its potential in the eSports market. It’s the first time in gaming history that an esport requires 80 – 100 professionals to play simultaneously on a map, and this could prove a great obstacle for LAN organizers, as it is much easier to host a Dota 2, League of Legends or Counter Strike: Global Offensive event that requires only 10 high end PCs (and internet connection for them).
Despite this hardship, some events have already been successful in hosting Battlegrounds and there are some more planned (including next month’s IEM). These pioneers in hosting competitions for the Battle Royale title will need to come up with solutions to make the tournaments financially viable in the long run, as the costs to run the competitions might easily be too high for most budgets (flight costs, hotel accommodations, food caterer, internet, huge venue, lots of computers with high end hardware, etc).
Sportsbooks will definitely like to catch the moment and offer more betting options for PUBG. With the hype around the game and genre itself, it is 100% clear that gambling market will grow rapidly.
We hope to see PUBG being played competitively for many years to come, as it is is very well executed and delivers great plays and excitement for all kinds of viewers – if you haven’t watched or played it yet, give it a try – you won’t regret it.
Conclusion
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Thanks for reading our article, we hope you enjoyed it! Good luck!