Chinese tech giant Tencent is cashing in on PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds big time.
It was only about a week ago that the firm announced it had won the exclusive rights to publish and distribute PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds in China, and now it has just revealed it will be porting the game to mobile platforms in China as well.
Tencent will develop the mobile version of PUBG alongside its South Korean developer, Bluehole.
For the time being, there isn’t much information on the port beyond Tencent’s vow to have it remain faithful to the PC version by keeping the same core elements and gameplay while also complying with local content regulations. Information such as whether it will be eventually made available globally once its done in China or exactly how far along the game is in its development process are still unknown.
All in all, considering how big mobile gaming is in Asian countries, as well as how popular PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is in general, news of a mobile version for this game is hardly surprising. That said, it’s still an interesting move considering that several mobile clones of PUBG already exist in China (including one by smartphone maker Xiaomi itself).
Going forward, it will be interesting to see how Tencent’s mobile port of PUBG compares to the Xbox One port that is slated to arrive on Dec. 12. It’s unlikely that China will be receiving said console version of PUBG, so there’s a good chance that many will be checking if the mobile version can serve as a viable replacement.
