PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is a game with quite a few achievements under its belt. It codified and popularized the battle royale genre. The mobile version alone has made over 5 billion dollars. While its popularity has been somewhat eclipsed by competitors like Fortnite and Apex Legends, its impact on the gaming world can still be felt today.

It's been 4 years since the game was first released and, as expected, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has gone through plenty of changes. These range from simple bug fixes to adding entirely new maps, weapons and vehicles.

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But there's something that players ask for in every multi-platform multiplayer game: cross-platform play. Did PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds get this feature over its long development, or have the developers' priorities been elsewhere?

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PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Has Some Cross-play

The answer is yes and no. It all depends on which platform the player is using.

For the majority of its development, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds had no cross-play. PC players could only play against PC players, PS4 players against other PS4 players, and so on. This changed in October 2019 with the cross-play update, but only for Xbox One and PS4. PC and mobile players are still stuck with their own player bases.

Why It's Only On Consoles

The developers, PUBG Corporation, have not officially stated why cross-play is only on consoles, but there are a few plausible explanations.

If a game is cross-platform, that means every platform needs to run the same version of the game. But it's easier to patch and update games on PC and mobile than it is on consoles. Sony and Microsoft have to approve each update. It may be easier to keep the console versions in sync separate from the others.

It may be for the sake of fairness. While it's possible to connect a mouse and keyboard to a console, the majority of players will be using gamepad controllers. The PS4 and Xbox One controllers are similar, so there's no need to balance them.

In contrast, the touchscreen controls on mobile and mouse-aim on PC offer very different experiences. Considering the push for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds as an e-sport and the rumored 1v1 Vostok mode, the audiences may be separate to keep the playing field even.

Unfortunately, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has a cheating problem. Players use mods to assist their aim, get X-ray vision, and get other unfair advantages. But this is more of a problem for the PC and mobile versions. It's harder to alter the game on a console. PUBG Corporation may expand cross-play once the cheating problem is under control.

While there are plenty of sensible reasons for console-only cross-play, it does feel like a missed opportunity. PC and mobile are PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' most popular platforms, and a lively player-base is key for keeping a battle royale game running.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.

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