With more than 5 million players on Xbox One and a huge portion of fans experiencing the game across PC, and iOS and Android devices as well, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has certainly become something of a phenomenon ever since it launched last year. Now, in order to celebrate PUBG's first anniversary and the growth of the battle royale title as a whole, creator Brendan Greene and executive producer Chang Han Kim have decided to offer fans their first look at the game's forthcoming island map as a thank you.

As seen below in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' One Year Anniversary "Thank You" video, Greene and Kim offer their gratitude for the "brutally honest" feedback that players have given over the last year, as it helped the team develop the game in a more meaningful way. As a show of appreciation, PUBG fans are shown glimpses of the new 4x4 island map with some gameplay at around the 1:44 mark, as CH Kim reveals that the public testing phase for the area will begin in early April.

As indicated in the video, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds forthcoming tropical area includes lush green forestry, as well as a river that snakes its way through the center of the map. Overhead shots of a village and a swooping cinematic over a blue lake are shown alongside some gameplay footage, but with the island still being in early development, its important to note that some of these and other features may be changed.

Bearing all of this in mind, it will be interesting to see how the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds community responds to the new island, as its size is much smaller than that of the two existing maps – the woods-heavy Erangel and the desert-inspired Miramar – which are both 8x8 KM. With the forthcoming area being markedly different in magnitude, it will hopefully offer up matches that are more intense with a much faster pace, as players will be more closely constrained with one another, thus providing a more sumptuous variety in locations.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is available now on Android and iOS devices, PC, and is in early access for Xbox One.

Source: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds – YouTube