Early Access to Chinese Mobile Version of PUBG Opens Today

Tencent announced that early access to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds: Battlefield(绝地求生:刺激战场) will be available today (in Chinese). Battlefield is the mobile IP of PUBG made by Chinese game developer Lightspeed and Quantum Studios. The registration for early access of Battlefield opened in December and has attracted over 18 million players to register.

Battlefield is one of two versions of PUBG (in Chinese) of the much-anticipated video game that will be released this year. The other version of the game, Army Attack (绝地求生:全军出击) developed by TIMI Studio, already launched its early access the end of last month. Battlefield features the last-man-standing gameplay, while Army Attack focuses on naval warfare and helicopter fights.

Tencent also got diehard PUBG fans excited when it teased the Battlefield poster with the tagline: “Mysterious Training Officer.” It is rumored that local celebrities including Peng Yu-Yan, Wu Jing, Jay Chou are being considered as spokespeople for the wildly popular video game.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds: Battlefield poster (Image Credit: Tencent)

The PC version of PUBG was developed and published by PUBG Corporation, the subsidiary of the Korean publisher Bluehole. The beta version was first released for Microsoft Windows in March 2017, the full release was available in December. The video game quickly became one of the most popular survival shooter games out there and has sold over 20 million copies since the beta launch. The partnership with Tencent, the Chinese entertainment behemoth, has already pushed out a number of smash success including Honour of Kings.The months leading up to the early access release weren’t trouble-free, however. In October, the Chinese government attempted to ban PUBG (in Chinese) due to the bloody, violent nature of the content. In response, Tencent promised to “make adjustments to content and make sure they accord with socialist core values, Chinese traditional culture, and moral rules.”
The video game already caused a big fuss even before it comes to China. In January, Tencent enlisted Chinese police to root out the cheaters and hackers who help design and sell cheat software that gives some players unfair advantages such as the ability to see through walls. At least 120 people were arrested. 

–This article originally appeared on TechNode