The “Fix PUBG” campaign kicked off earlier this year as part of the promise from Bluehole Inc to their fans for complete transparency and dedication to making the game better. For months, the title seemed to be in a glitchy limbo and only really started to emerge as a full title once other games in the genre started to gain traction (Fortnite, now Blackout). After months of data compilation and constant tweaks, the team has their results and what that means for the future of the game.
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For those unfamiliar with the campaign, here was the goal: ‘At the start of the campaign, the most important elements we had in mind are as listed below. We have worked on increasing the quality of PUBG based on largely these four topics. We will go over the state of each category as well as what we still plan to improve upon.”
- Provide the best gameplay experience possible through client and server performance optimization
- Ensure fair gameplay with more efficient anti-cheat solutions using all available means
- Smarter and faster matchmaking through improved matchmaking logic
- Fix bugs that degrade the experience while applying long-requested QOL improvements
With a focus on optimization, a close eye on pings, lag, and peaks was crucial. Bluehole explains, “To explain a little more in detail, we have optimized level streaming and decreased the burden that comes with level loading while moving. Compared to before, the average time to load 1 level has dropped significantly from 14.4 seconds to 5.6 seconds. Our work on optimizing “Physics Creation” is still ongoing and we plan to apply those fixes after running a final test around the end of December.
“By optimizing game effects, we have reduced the load caused when multiple effects are activated at the same time. We have also begun optimizing frame rate drop issues on specific effects such as smoke. Environmental effects, vehicle destruction effects, hit effects and smoke effects have been improved and we are planning to add improvements on weapon related logic and effects as well.”
Server performance has also seen a huge increase in quality by mitigating desync and making grand changes to how matchmaking works on a basic level. Speaking of which, the team also revealed their plans for this feature as well:
- Provide a stable gaming environment by matching players with similar Ping.
- Provide a fair gaming environment by matching users with a similar skill level (in relation to MMR, not Rank).
- Set-up for players using the same language to be placed on the same team.
- Ensure large-scale play with 100 players to maximize the fun of the Battle Royale experience.
- Minimize wait times as best as possible while fulfilling the above requirements.
As mentioned earlier in our previous coverage, anti-cheat still remains a priority and that includes going hard on hardware bans. “We are constantly banning unauthorized programs by analyzing and utilizing data from various logs. In addition, we are developing our own anti-cheat solution to prevent the use of unauthorized programs. We expect to have something to share on this in the near future.”
You can read the full amount of changes, tweaks, and goals concerning PC, consoles, and bug fixes right here in their latest developer update.
