Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

‘PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ drops into Xbox One preview program December 12

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds on Xbox One - 4K Trailer
PlayerUnknown himself, Brendan Greene, took the stage at Paris Games Week to reveal what many Xbox One owners have been wondering since E3: When will

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds

 land on Microsoft’s console? The answer to that question, according to Greene, the game’s lead designer, is December 12 through the Xbox Game Preview program — the equivalent of early access titles on Steam.

Known as PUGB, the wildly popular battle royale game, which drops 100 players on a map in a fight to be the lone survivor, was announced for Xbox One at E3. The game became a runaway hit instantly following its March launch on PC as an early access Steam game. In seven months, it has sold more than 13 million copies and currently stands as the most-played game on Steam.

The decision to bring PUBG to Xbox was helped by the Xbox Preview program, which allows unfinished games to be played on the console — no program of that sort exists on PlayStation 4 at this time. PUBG will still have the same premise on Xbox One, but Bluehole said that due to its “community-driven focus,” it won’t be exactly the same experience on Xbox One. It will, however, cost $30, just like the PC version.

PUBG
PUBG Warrior Pack Image used with permission by copyright holder

Bluehole Studio also announced that it worked with Xbox to produce three unique, limited-edition cosmetic packs exclusively for Xbox. The packs — Warrior (shown above), Accessory, and Tracksuit — will be available as stand-alone purchases when the game debuts on Xbox One in December. While pricing isn’t yet known, you’ll want to act fast since they will only be available for a limited time. Bluehole said these three add-ons will be the only items available for purchase on Xbox One while the game is in the preview program.

Along with the Xbox One launch date reveal, version 1.0 of PUBG for PC is expected to arrive in late December. That means that the shooter could exit early access by the end of the year and become a “finished” product.

Bluehole has been developing both versions of the game in tandem, but each version has its own unique challenges. Even though the PC version is planned to enter version 1.0 shortly after the game launches for Xbox Preview, Bluehole wants “to have both versions align to each other as soon as possible.”

Editors' Recommendations

Steven Petite
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven is a writer from Northeast Ohio currently based in Louisiana. He writes about video games and books, and consumes…
Volgarr the Viking 2 will take you back to your Ghosts ‘n Goblins days
A viking slashes a tree in Volgarr the Viking 2.

Developer Digital Eclipse is working on a surprising project: Volgarr the Viking 2. The 2D retro sequel will launch on August 6 for PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

The news is an out of left field reveal. The first Volgarr the Viking game released in 2013 and was made as an ode to 1080s classics like Ghosts 'n Goblins. Despite being a small release, it sold over 1 million copies over the past decade. As revealed during today's Guerrilla Collective stream, the series is coming back with a new sequel by Digital Eclipse, the team behind this year's Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story.

Read more
3 Days of Play PS Plus games to try this weekend (June 7-9)
Key art for Streets of Rage 4.

June 2024 is shaping up to be a pretty great month for PlayStation players. Not only are we coming off an entertaining State of Play showcase, but a new Days of Play initiative surrounding all the video game showcases this month is bringing a lot of new PS Plus additions with it. Many of those games hit PS Plus this week, and three in particular stand out to us.

For owners of Sony's oft-neglected PlayStation VR2, the first game is one of its rare exclusives that take full advantage of the headset's eye-tracking by seeing how often players blink. The next is a new PS Plus Essential game that's a revival of Sega's classic beat-'em-up series for the modern gaming era. Finally, the last title is an atmospheric and eerie fishing game that should entice fans of Lovecraftian horror.
Before Your Eyes

Read more
3 first-party Xbox Game Pass games to try this weekend (June 7-9)
Gears 5 Kait Hero Close Up

Microsoft will hold an Xbox Games Showcase and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Direct. this Sunday. These shows will provide a much better idea of what to expect from Xbox over the course of the next year or two. That's really needed right now, as Microsoft has struggled to keep online discussions around Xbox positive as it went multiplatform with some games, laid off thousands of developers, and outright shut down the developers of Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall. Based on leaks and my personal expectations for the showcase, there are three games you can play on Xbox Game Pass this weekend to prepare for the event.

The first is the latest first-person shooter in a long-running series by id Software that might be getting a medieval-set spinoff. After that, we have the fifth entry in a sci-fi Xbox series that still looks fantastic on Xbox Series X/S even though it came out in 2019. Finally, you can prepare for Avowed with the latest RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, a satirical sci-fi game where player choice is critical.
Doom Eternal

Read more