An exciting prospect hit the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds subreddit earlier this week, with a fan sharing an intriguing image that they had located on the game's test server. The contents of this image gave indication that changes might be on the way to the battle royale shooter's Erangel map, by way of additional compounds, and PUBG Corporation has now provided official confirmation that this is indeed the case.
"As some of you inferred from some recent leaks of a map image, we are working on new ways to balance loot and otherwise improve our maps, Erangel being the first," the company's statement begins. As previously mentioned, part of this attempted improvement is an overall increase in the number of compounds players will encounter on the map. These compounds function as high density loot spawns, and this change would potentially offer players the opportunity to gear up more quickly in a match.
That said, PUBG Corp notes that adding more compounds is not the only change being tested internally, and the statement specifically emphasizes the importance of a map's loot balance and overall layout. As such, the developers "plan to start testing several potential changes to Erangel soon" in order to make sure neither of these elements are jeopardized with the remaster. More details on these tests are forthcoming.
Additionally, the company has used this announcement to mention that "leaked images are usually just a snapshot in time and rarely represent the entire plan or scope of what’s being worked on." This intimation certainly suggests that PUBG Corp wants to comfort those that may be wary of these forthcoming changes, and indeed there are some fans that have expressed concerns.
Specifically, the Reddit thread where the revamped map was leaked has a number of responses from players that feel that the company has gone overboard with the number of added compounds. Moreover, there are those that indicate that it is an error to add more buildings to Erangel instead of simply increasing the spawn rate of gear in the map's already-existing structures.
It remains to be seen if these sentiments will remain after the public testing of the revamped map begins, but PUBG Corp does appear to be willing to listen to player feedback throughout the process. If this testing phase goes smoothly, this may just give PlayerUnkown's Battlegrounds a little life amidst the meteoric rise of Apex Legends and Fortnite.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is out now for iOS, Android, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.