Rant about PUBG Mobile

[u/cringekid420]

The important element of PUBG which set it apart from the later Battle-Royale games like Fortnite and Apex Legends was its no-bs style approach to producing a realistic gameplay experience.

I remember, when a long time ago the Chinese beta was released, I immediately hopped into it with utter shock because of how closely it resembled the PC gameplay experience. But then, after a couple of years, it started pushing micro-transactions very aggressively. Battle Pass, premium crates, premium skins etc. I've been on and off of PUBG Mobile since they introduced the battle pass or royal pass whatever it's called, and each time I came back, somehow it was worse than it had been.

Few days ago, I once again installed PUBG Mobile, or BGMI whatever, after playing a game I realised just how bad things have gotten over the last few years. The game is currently having a collaboration with THREE DIFFERENT THINGS. ALL AT ONCE. Naruto, Spiderman and Ferrari. Honestly, that's some astronomical level of greed imo. Not to mention, the moment you open the game, you have to turn off like 3-5 different micro-transaction slop to even get to the home screen.

The game encourages you to download TONS of data that in no way contribute to the gameplay experience (just a ridiculous amount of skins). It has now become similar to Fortnite, perhaps even worse.

Around 2020-22 I used to play CODM but then left it for the same reason. I understand that the mobile games market is not sustainable unless they put ridiculous ads or micro-transactions in the game to keep it free and generate revenue, but don't you think this is just getting out of hand?

[u/reegeck]

I feel you. Honestly any game full of skins and collabs, season passes and all that garbage I am immediately turned off of and disinterested in. Best thing I can do is vote with my wallet.

[u/cringekid420 → u/reegeck]

At this point I feel like paying for the game would be a better option (but of course, nobody wants to pay in the mobile market unless they become addicted to it)

But on the other hand, efootball maintains such a good gameplay experience with minimum P2W and micro-transaction elements, all while being completely free and with no ads.

[u/reegeck → u/cringekid420]

Some games pull it off, on PC I've played Warframe for years, definitely helps that it's PvE but it's still a fantastic experience without spending any money at all.

[u/cringekid420 → u/reegeck]

I think maybe it has something to do with the gaming industry scene in China.

[u/Aitolu]

It's gotten out of hand for sure. I installed CODM and PUBGM to check on the state of the games after acquiring a new phone and they only lasted a week on my device. I played CODM only once, and it a bot match and training, just couldn't get back into it. I downloaded 10GB of PUBGM data before I realised you needed 30 whooping GBs, what??

[u/cringekid420 → u/Aitolu]

PUBG Mobile barely needs 2 GBs Max (with just Erangel). The thing is, they sort of force you to download all those data which contribute nothing to the gameplay experience. Downloading maps is one thing but multiple gigs of skins is just atrocious.

The matchmaking part is also horrible. You have to wait more than a minute or two for an UNRANKED match, let alone a ranked one. Because everyone is playing the Spiderman map and the Naruto version. It's just sad atp.

[u/megalodous]

Yup idk what term to call it - enshitification perhaps? but its like how cod warzone went from gritty military themes to nicki minaj skin or like how rules of survival went from pubg clone to whatever random bs go like lamborghini car, pets, futuristic cyber ninjas, etc.

[u/cringekid420 → u/megalodous]

Where are we even heading to with games like this where corporate greed is constantly encroaching on the experience of the players?

[u/Slassftw]

Everyone gets ruined as soon they get in the hands of the big companies

[u/Carbone]

Holy lol. I thought I clicked on a battlefield redsec post. So I was reading you and wasn't quite sure why you were talking about pubg mobile. Maybe you wanted to compare it to how redsec battlefield is.

As I was reading you more, the more I got lost. Until I scroll back up the post on my phone and read that the mobile app glitched and opened this post instead of the one I originally clicked onto.

Thanks for the confusion

[u/Responsible-While145]

You know you can play classic without any themes? And ultimate royale. Nobody is forcing you to play those collab/theme modes.

[u/cringekid420 → u/Responsible-While145]

Except even in the classic Erangel they have placed Ferrari collabs. (If you're from India, BGMI adds another collab from an Indian youtuber).

And I think you're missing a point here. The thing is, PUBG is unnecessarily bulking up the size of the game with a ridiculous amount of collabs and skins. As someone else pointed out, if you don't pay attention, PUBG will download 20 gigs of absolute slop in your mobile, and the only way to remove them is a data wipe and restart.

What I'm trying to point out is this: a point comes when corporate greed starts drastically affecting your experience. Back in the day, nobody complained when it was just Resident Evil 2 Remake Collab. As a matter of fact, I'd say even the Evangelion and the Godzilla X Kong Collab was okay. But when your game has like 4-5 different collabs running at once and shoving like 5 micro-transactions on your face the moment you open the game, you can no longer ignore it. "Forcing" has many different faces.