The latest update for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, which introduced 8 vs. 8 Team Deathmatch, has not gone smoothly. The 6.2 update introduced a major desync bug into the game, as well as several other major issues. Players are incredibly frustrated, leading to PUBG seeing its lowest numbers of average and peak players on Steam since launch. It's gotten to the point where PUBG's most dedicated player and streamer, chocoTaco, has now announced his plans to take a break from the battle royale.
chocoTaco earned his current popularity on Twitch playing PUBG during the game's initial boom. He's faithfully stuck with the game since, at least partially because it's the game that gets him the most viewers. Yet chocoTaco is sounding more and more like he's ready to move onto another game, given the opportunity. Patch 6.2, according to chocoTaco, has finally pushed him to the brink.
In a string of posts to his Twitter account, chocoTaco called out PUBG's ongoing technical issues. "New patch brought a handful of new bugs as usual," he said, not so subtly hinting at PUBG's seemingly everpresent bugs. He even goes so far as saying that he's "not having fun," which is a surprisingly strong sentiment for a streamer to share on social media.
The big surprise, however, is chocoTaco going so far as to say that he's planning to take a break from playing PUBG. "Loads of issues never get addressed. It's hard to enjoy the game a lot of the time," is part of what chocoTaco says on his second tweet on the subject. "Whenever this COD BR launches I will be taking a break from PUBG."
chocoTaco is referencing the rumored Call of Duty: Modern Warfare spin-off battle royale. Leaks have revealed that it's named Warzone and could potentially be announced or release within the next month or two. It would certainly provide ChacoTaco at least an opportunity to stop playing PUBG while retaining his current Twitch subscriber numbers.
The takeaway is that PUBG, years after it first became available to play, is at the very least struggling in the west, though it's still otherwise one of the most popular games in the world. It's not that players don't still love it, or that the competition has provided a superior product, given the unique style of PUBG. It's that dealing with PUBG's constant technical issues has exhausted even its most strident supporters– chocoTaco is just the latest example. Perhaps PUBG can pull itself together, but given its success despite the frustration of western Steam users, there's no reason to expect any change.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is available now on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and mobile devices.