When PUBG first launched on Xbox back in 2017, it was a bittersweet moment. The gaming landscape rarely sees monumental shifts like it did when Brendan Greene, the Player Unknown himself made battle Royale mainstream by modding arma. Back then and even now, Xbox desperately needed console exclusives and securing PUBG to a one year exclusivity deal on consoles was a fantastic move. The downside is the game looked, played and controlled like an apocalyptic garbage fire. Now, a little over two full years later, and multiple very large competitors now on the market, how does PUBG hold up ?

Let’s start with the good news and that is the tension that is the main draw for the game is still there and in my opinion has yet to be matched. All of the other battle royales lack the feeling that at any moment, it could all be over.  I played PUBG in its broken state for close to a year with some friends as it was always fun to have some laughs and get some chicken dinners together. Major problems including pretty much everything. Visuals were bad with draw distance and texture load in being the main culprit. I remember grass being added in on a patch was a highlight due to grass sway causing server issues. Poor server performance being another major problem and overall just a lack of features. 

Upon returning nearly two years later for a few games to check in I was pleasantly surprised with how well it plays now and how smooth it runs with a steady frame rate. New features including a battle pass, death cam, cross play and reporting have been added. Controls are as unintuitive as ever and takes some time getting used to but that could be part of the charm and the sense of tension because nothing is simple or easy. 

Just as I am finished my last game and finished writing this article, the servers crash and I am unable to connect again. To make sure it’s not my internet, I try to boot up other multiplayer games and sure enough I have no issue. As far as PUBG has come since December 2017. It clearly still has issues that are deeper than the surface. 

All I want is a Battle Royale that looks as good as current gen games do, controls well like most modern shooters do and features the tension that PUBG has. With rumors of Modern Warfare getting a 200 player free to play battle Royale mode, my hope is that these three factors are in play.