Why Krafton is missing an easy win by not bringing PUBG Battlegrounds to Switch 2

PUBG Battlegrounds is likely one of the most profitable battle-royale video games in historical past, however developer Krafton/PUBG Studios could also be lacking a trick by not bringing the sport to the Nintendo Swap 2.

Launched in 2017 as an early entry PC sport for Home windows, PUBG Battlegrounds quick turned a smash hit, letting gamers fly all the way down to an island to compete towards 99 others to take the crown. Nevertheless, regardless of the sport reaching a peak of three,236,027 gamers in January 2018, Epic Video games’ Fortnite was overtaking PUBG as a result of its greater funding, partnerships, and larger esports placements.

In 2025, the sport remains to be energetic, but it surely’s nowhere close to what it was once when it comes to reputation. With this in thoughts, we’re going to elucidate why PUBG Battlegrounds has been absent from Nintendo’s Swap consoles, and what the advantages may very well be for Krafton/PUBG Studios in the event that they determine to launch the sport on Nintendo’s platform.

Regardless of PUBG Battlegrounds not being the juggernaut it as soon as was, the sport nonetheless has an enormous following worldwide, particularly in nations like Korea and the UK. Whereas Epic Video games’ Fortnite remains to be banned in a number of nations on Apple’s App Retailer, PUBG Cell, a port of Battlegrounds, is broadly accessible on iPhone and iPad.

However the sport’s drop in reputation isn’t simply as a result of it not being accessible on the Swap — a number of avid gamers complain about the identical points PUBG has had for a number of years. This consists of its poor anti-cheat measures, with many bots flooding matches with pinpoint accuracy in eliminating actual gamers, in addition to the builders’ over-reliance on Korean Pop-themed occasions to fulfill a selected market, however alienating others. This lack of focus has contributed to PUBG dropping market share and respect within the battle-royale style, in addition to the esports scene.

Releasing PUBG Battlegrounds on Nintendo Swap 2 gained’t be a fix-all resolution. As well as, Krafton/PUBG Studios ought to take suggestions from its customers to coronary heart and work on a 2.0 replace, in an analogous vein to how Activision launched a brand new model of Name of Responsibility: Warzone in 2022.

The looks of PUBG Battlegrounds has barely modified since its launch in 2017, whereas others like Fortnite have seen new gameplay options and large graphical enhancements since its preliminary launch. This consists of the transfer to the newer Unreal Engine 5 in 2022, which introduced extra detailed foliage, ray-tracing options, and extra. This new model was additionally launched on Swap 2’s launch day, bringing these enhancements to new and returning gamers immediately.

A PUBG Battlegrounds 2.0 model for Nintendo’s console with higher graphics, higher anti-cheat methods, and a greater deal with content material may strongly attraction to gamers. It may additional enhance the Swap 2 as an ideal console for mobile esports. This could have a huge impact on each PUBG and esports, as it could convey the sport to trendy requirements, whereas conserving the playerbase intact, but additionally attracting new avid gamers, very like how Warzone 2.0 was marketed at its launch. There’s potential to develop its month-to-month participant base from 300,000 to double if Krafton/PUBG Studios appears into these options.

Nevertheless, after seven years of the sport not being made accessible on Nintendo’s platform, there are clearly the reason why, even when Krafton/PUBG Studios hasn’t explicitly revealed them. One fixed theme discovered on locations like Reddit attributes the sport’s absence on Nintendo’s consoles as a result of PUBG’s unhealthy efficiency on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Sequence S/X to begin with. Experiences of lag, beginning with the title’s menu display, are motive sufficient for some to elucidate why PUBG isn’t on Swap.

One other issue may very well be as a result of Xbox’s latest layoffs. Krafton/PUBG Studios and Microsoft agreed on a deal in 2017 to convey PUBG to Xbox as an early entry title, together with serving to to port the sport to the platform. Regardless of the sport coming to PlayStation a 12 months later, the phrases of the deal allegedly stay, which nonetheless haven’t been revealed. With 1000’s dropping their jobs and video games both losing funding, like John Romero’s company, Romero Video games, or the shutting down of The Initiative and the cancellation of the Perfect Dark reboot, the phrases of the deal between Krafton/PUBG Studios and Microsoft may very well be altering, too.

Porting and sustaining a brand new model of PUBG may introduce its personal set of issues for Krafton/PUBG Studios. They’re merely not an enormous developer in comparison with Epic Video games, which may keep Fortnite and its multitude of modes with a big headcount worldwide. Yet one more model of PUBG, not least a complete new model, as we described within the earlier part, may outcome within the sport on all platforms struggling greater than gamers have seen up to now few years.

Regardless of Krafton/PUBG Studios displaying no indicators of bringing PUBG to the Nintendo Swap 2, it nonetheless looks like a straightforward win if it did. With Epic Video games releasing a brand new model of Fortnite for the console, full with improved graphics and extra, it appears unlikely that PUBG gained’t be capable to run on the Swap 2.

Granted, we’ve talked about how Krafton/PUBG Studios is a much smaller studio than Epic Video games, and one other port may restrict its sources. However there’s a clear alternative right here, and with Swap 2 already turning into the best-selling console of all time inside two weeks of its launch on June 5, maybe it’s a threat price taking for the developer.