Hello players,

Today we would like to inform you of an upcoming change to service to some of our regions. As PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS continues to mature and grow, we’ve been looking at the opportunities before us to improve upon the matchmaking experience. As a result, we have decided to merge some of our regions together. In this Dev Letter, we will explain the idea behind this merge, what we expect the benefits to be, and how we plan to implement it.

Why Merge Some Regions? 

We first want to thank you for your continued interest and support of the game. Since the first half of 2023, we’ve seen a steady increase in peak concurrent players, which is up an astounding 46%, putting us at somewhere around 710,000 PCU as of the time of this letter. This is not something we take for granted. It is thanks to your support that we have been able to not only celebrate 7 years together but continue to thrive and grow long after many games would have stopped.

In response to this new growth, we’ve been continuously monitoring the matchmaking experience and looking into ways we can improve it. One way has been skill-based matchmaking, which was explained in Dev Letter: Matchmaking for Normal Match last April. Our goal was to reinforce the skill-based matchmaking system to ensure that players in all regions can compete against other players of a similar skill level. Since then, we have continued to monitor and make additional improvements. However, to improve upon it even more and provide the best gaming experience for our players, we have decided to merge some of our regions.

What Are the Expected Benefits?

Our biggest goal with this region merge is to improve our matchmaking environment. We expect that this merge will not only lower the wait time for matchmaking but also improve the precision of the skill-based matchmaking system overall.

We want your matches to be fun and competitive without having to wait too long for a queue to pop. We think the larger player base that will result from these region merges will provide both.

Normal Match

One benefit to all of the above is that we will be able to offer more types of match options for Normal Match. More party types and perspectives can be added, offering a diverse experience full of new strategies and playstyles.

On top of that, the improvements offered by skill-based matchmaking will mean going up against other players of similar skill levels throughout all of our party types. By facing off against players of your skill level, we hope to increase the satisfaction and overall quality of competition that will help you continue to grow your skills while having a great time.

For regions that previously had fewer players in the matchmaking pool, we also expect to see improvement in the number of bots that join each game during certain time periods and game modes. We hope this will allow players to enjoy a more genuine competitive environment with a smoother game flow, making Normal Match a more challenging and enjoyable experience overall.

Ranked & Arcade

For Ranked, we also expect shorter matchmaking times and an overall improvement to the gameplay experience. The expanded player base will mean a more diverse matchmaking pool, allowing you to match with opponents that are closer to your skill level than were available before. Just like with Normal Match, we hope that this will give you a greater opportunity to maximize your skills so that you can continue to grow while still feeling challenged in each of your matches as you work your way up the Ranked tiers.

Through these changes, Ranked will offer more enjoyable and challenging experiences, which we believe will positively impact all players by providing long-term opportunities for growth.

Lastly, players in some regions will now be able to enjoy Arcade modes that were not previously available due to lower populations. We never want to prevent players from accessing content, so we’re happy to be able to bring these game modes to all players once again.

What We Plan to Do

This Region Merge is scheduled to be implemented with Update 32.1 in October. Players will not need to do anything on their end to prepare and the transition should be seamless from a player’s point of view.

Region Merge Details

Below is our plan for which regions will merge during Update 32.1.

When determining the targeted merge regions, we considered the seven matchmaking factors (platform, player count, time to match, ping, map service, party type/perspective, skill), explained in the previous Dev Letter: Match making for Normal Match. The final target regions for merge are as follows:

PC (Steam, Epic)

• AS 
  • AS + KRJP
• SEA 
  • SEA + OC
• AMER 
  • NA + SA 
    
    

Console (Xbox, PlayStation®)

• AMER 
  • NA + SA
• APAC 
  • AS + OC 

* Regions and platforms not mentioned above are not subject to the region merge. Players in the unlisted regions will not be affected by the merge.

Q&A

To wrap things up, we would like to address some possible questions that you may have regarding the upcoming region merge.

• Q) Will Ping change significantly with the region merge? 
  • We have taken balanced Ping settings into consideration for the regions that will be merged and will continue to make improvements where possible. However, some impact may occur due to individual network environments and other issues. We plan to find and adjust to the optimal location in these regions to ensure that network speed does not affect the gameplay even after the merge.
    
    
• Q) Will there be any changes to my gameplay records with the region merge? 
  • Existing player stat records such as Match History will be maintained. The Ranked Notable Season record on the Career page will also be preserved, and if the best season record is based on the pre-merge region, the previous region information will also be displayed.
    
    
• Q) Will the items I own be maintained after the region merge? 
  • All inventory items, medals, nameplates, emblems, and currencies you had before the merge will be preserved even after the merge. Workshop components such as Crates, Keys, and Imprints, as well as Contraband Coupons, will also be preserved.
    
    
• Q) Will there be any changes related to purchases, such as the Store price or G-COIN, with the region merge? 
  • All Store items, prices, and G-COIN prices will remain the same as before, unaffected by the region merge.
    
    
• Q) Will there be any system changes to the gameplay due to the region merge? 
  • There will be no system changes to the gameplay due to this merge. The rules and systems of Normal Match, Ranked, and Arcade will stay the same across all regions.
    
    
• Q) How will the Ranked Leaderboard (Top 500) change after the region merge? 
  • The leaderboard (Top 500) will only display 500 players for each merged region. 
    • The leaderboard system remains the same, but with the region merge, more players will be competing for the Top 500 spots.
    • As we mentioned in Dev Letter: Ranked Revamp, the existing Top 500 rewards will be given to players who achieve Master Tier and above.
      
      
• Q) How will map service change? 
  • The map rotation, which was operated differently in each region, will change due to the merge.
    • Map rotation will be adjusted after taking regional map preferences and usage rates into consideration.
      
      
• Q) Will there be any changes to the various events available? 
  • Global events will continue to apply equally to all regions as before, but some regional events may change to work across the merged regions.

Concluding Today's Dev Letter

In today's Dev Letter, we outlined the major points and overall direction of the upcoming Region Merge. For details that may not have been covered in today’s letter, keep an eye out for an additional announcement before Update 32.1 this October.

Should any changes occur to the plan detailed in this letter, we will let you know as soon as possible. As always, we don’t make big changes like this lightly. It is our sincere hope that merging these regions will improve your experience so that you can forget about long matchmaking times and focus on what’s important; having fun and being challenged while out on the Battlegrounds.

Thank you.

PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS Team