PUBG: Battlegrounds Celebrates 8th Anniversary with 2025 Roadmap Featuring UE5 Upgrade

A roadmap for 2025, featuring fresh content, gameplay enhancements, and other details, was unveiled for PUBG: Battlegrounds, published by Krafton and developed by Krafton’s PUBG Studios. This announcement was made on the occasion of the battle royale’s 8th anniversary.

One of the major announcements mentioned in the 2025 Roadmap is the expansion of PUBG’s in-game worlds. While no new maps are planned for this year, the developers are reworking existing battlegrounds with new features, interactions, and destructible terrain that was previously tested in Sanhok. The game is about to gradually introduce destructible elements to Taego, Miramar, and Erangel through seasonal updates and special events.

Besides that, developers also promised new vehicle interactions, more immersive Battle Royale combat and new tactical elements, like animal AI. 

Besides that, the devs will continue improving existing modes, such as Team Deathmatch (TDM), and introduce some new ones, like the roguelike mode Project Cyclops and the PAYDAY mode, developed in partnership with Starbreeze Entertainment.

Developers also hinted that PUBG is about to get collaborative content with other IPs. On top of that they are about to launch a User-Generated Content (UGC) project that will let players craft custom and share their creations within the community.

On the live service front, PUBG is set to unify Normal Match, Ranked, and Esports gameplay in order to make it easier for players to transition between modes. Additionally, developers promised more frequent gunplay balance updates, including a large-scale meta-rebalancing aimed at diversifying combat strategies and enhancing the overall playstyle. The Ranked mode will also see a revamp, introducing a new tier and rewards to further incentivize competitive play.

For the esports Esports fans Krafton plans events like the PUBG Global Series (PGS) and PUBG Nations Cup (PNC), and the new Third-Person Perspective (TPP) tournament – the PUBG Players Tour.

The shift to current-gen consoles (Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5) is a huge step in enhancing the game’s technical performance, addressing player feedback on graphical quality and stability. 

Developers also announced the transition to Unreal Engine 5 planned to be delivered through 2025 with visual upgrades in priority.

It is worth noting that as of December 2024, PUBG: Battlegrounds has sold over 84 million copies worldwide across PC and console platforms since its launch in 2017. This figure does not include the free-to-play mobile version, PUBG Mobile, which, as of December 2024, has generated over $10 billion in revenue since its release in March 2018.