PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds full release pushed back

By Eric Abent/July 7, 2017 12:13 pm EST

A lot of people have already purchased PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and are enjoying its rough-around-the-edges early access build, but if you're the type to wait on a game until it enters full release, it looks like you'll be waiting a bit longer to get in on the PUBG action. Though developer Bluehole initially said that it was aiming to have PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds leave early access within six months, today that roadmap was extended.

In a post to the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Steam community, lead designer Brendan Greene revealed that Bluehole is going to need a little bit longer to implement everything they want for launch. Accordingly, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds will now enter full launch by the end of Q4 2017.

All things considered, that isn't a huge delay. With a launch into early access happening in March, a six month roadmap would have put PUBG's full release in September. With this new roadmap, we're looking at launch by the end of December, which extends the release estimate by a few months. For an early access game, which can get stuck in something resembling "development hell" for years, a nine month window between early access launch and full release isn't bad at all.

There seems to be plenty of content on the way, too. Bluehole has announced that two new maps will be coming to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, and the first of that pair was teased in a couple of images a few days back. On top of those new maps, we've been told of new features, such as vaulting animations, and new game modes like a hardcore first person only mode.

Of course, some of the incoming features and modes that have already been announced may not make it into the game until after its official launch. In any case, it sounds like Bluehole wants to pack a lot of stuff into PUBG before it leaves early access, so it's no wonder that the game's release has been pushed back. Do you think this will be a big issue? Head down to the comments section and let us know!

SOURCE: Brendan Greene