It appears Xbox One owners may not have to wait for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds much longer. Bluehole’s Steam Early Access phenomenon was recently rated by the Australian Classification Board , which points to a console launch coming soon.
The Australian Classification Board has given PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) an MA 15+ rating, which equates to an M-rating for the ESRB in North America or an “18” from Europe’s PEGI. Interestingly, the official title of the battle royale shooter is mouthful thanks to the tagline being added, which makes it PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds: The Ultimate Life & Death Fight .
The reason the Australian rating of PUBG is pegged for the Xbox One despite the console not being listed is Microsoft Studios listed as the publisher. Microsoft’s game publishing arm struck a partnership deal with Bluehole in August to ensure the game launched on the Xbox One this year and is reportedly seeking to extend the timed exclusivity period. In exchange, the developer gets technical help from Microsoft to release the game to the console since the publisher already has experts knowledgeable about running Unreal Engine 4 power titles on the console and how to make a shooter feel right with a controller.
Now the question is how soon can Xbox One players expect to see PUBG available to download from the Xbox Store. It’s likely approximately a month or more away with the timeframe around the Xbox One X launch a strong possibility for maximum marketing visibility. The more powerful console is set to be available on November 7 and PUBG is expected to get some enhancements on it over the current standard, the Xbox One S.
Microsoft is expecting big things from PUBG , with Xbox Head Phil Spencer expecting it to be “very big” on the console like Minecraft . It is easy to see why. Bluehole’s shooter has reached stratospheric heights on PC via Steam Early Access after only eight months. The game has broken records with more than 2 million concurrent players and 16 million copies sold, per SteamSpy .
The sudden growth of PUBG has not been without problems, as Bluehole anticipated only dealing with 1 million concurrent players which led to recent server outages and hiccups. The Xbox One release appears to be unaffected, however, which should make console owners who have been anticipating the title happy.
On a side note, Xbox One owners should not expect the game to appear as a pre-order or pre-load. PUBG is expected to be released as an Xbox One Game Preview Title, which means it does not get those featured.
[Featured Image by Bluehole, Inc]
