PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is gearing up for season 6, getting ready to release a new map called Karakin and Survivor Pass: Shakedown. The title was first released in March 2017 for PC via Steam’s early access. Since its release two years ago PUBG has sold over 50 million copies and has become a very popular esport while maintaining a popular mobile version of the battle royale genre as well.

The popular game was developed and published by the company PUBG Corporation. PUBG was in fact based on mods that Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene had created for Arma 2 that were inspired by the 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale. Greene found that most online video game maps were far too repetitive and easy to memorize and therefore lost replay value. Greene has since left his position as director of development of PUBG and has been working in PUBG Corporation’s Special Projects.

PUBG Corporation announced on its website that it i updating the game considerably for season 6. Survivor Pass: Shakedown is giving players access to all new cosmetic items like outfits and weapon skins. The other large addition to the game will be the new map Karakin. This map is much smaller than the others so matches will be most likely be shorter and much more intense. There is also a new mechanic called Black Zones that will destroy parts of the map with missile strikes and force players out of cover. To make room for this map they are also introducing a map rotation that will periodically switch out which maps can be played on. This update will launch on PC January 22nd and will follow on consoles shortly after.

The amount of success that PUBG has received has impacted the gaming world in a major way. The game quickly became one of the best selling video games of all time and still has millions of players and streamers. Because of its popularity it almost single-handedly created the battle royale genre. Games like Fortnite and Apex Legends have taken inspiration from a lot of PUBG mechanics and systems, while putting a fresh new twist on them. Despite this popularity the game has had its fair share of critics, mainly in the form of governments. Several countries like Nepal and Iraq banned the game for being too violent.

Battle royale as a genre seems like it will be around for a very long time. Since the launch of PUBG video games have pushed even further towards massive online shooter games, with big budget titles like Call of Duty even getting in on it. Along with this the genre has continued to adapt and improve in order to beat out their competitors. With this new update PUBG may be giving itself another way to show up the competition.

Next: PUBG Adds Lightweight Planes to the Battlegrounds

PUBG is available now on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Android, and iOS.

Source: PUBG