PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds continues to release new content for its users, with the developers recently announcing Season 9 is adding a dynamic map called Paramo starting on October 21 for PC and October 29 for consoles. That unique map is meant to help the game stand out against its popular battle royale competitors like Fortnite, which has far usurped PUBG in terms of its active player count over the last few years.
Earlier this year, PUBG began implementing bots on PC and console versions ostensibly to help players in unranked matches have "easy targets" to practice against, but it's likely another reason was to ensure matchmaking queues are easier to fill. The official PUBG Support Twitter account appears to have confirmed this last week via an announcement that bot ratios would be changed. Now, no bots will appear "if matchmaking queues are healthy," according to the Tweet.
PUBG Support said lower MMR matches will still be populated with bots, and that the team will continue monitoring the game to see how much of an impact this adjustment has. The announcement of Season 9 at the beginning of October may have resulted in a surge of players, and thus matchmaking queues may be healthier than before. However, at this point time will tell whether new changes are made going forward.
As PUBG continues to grow on both mainstream devices and mobile, its developers have been actively trying to keep games fair and healthy where they can. In August, it was announced that PUBG Mobile banned over 2.2 million accounts in just one week for a variety of different cheats, including the use of x-ray vision, auto-aim, and speed modification.
At the same time, plans are in place to give players more to do beyond what is being added as a part of Season 9. The battle royale's mobile version recently brought back Infection Mode to celebrate Halloween, which gives players the opportunity to fight off zombies in a map decorated with jack-o-lanterns and gravestones until November 9.
Plenty of other games are also gearing up f0r the spooky season with Halloween-themed events, including PUBG's battle royale competition Fortnite. Last week, new Fortnite skins leaked for the Fortnitemares 2020 event, likely to begin at the end of the month. Some may feel the presence of bots in a game like PUBG means it's on its last legs, but the release of new content shows it should keep going for some time to come.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is available on Android, iOS, PC, PlayStation 4, Stadia, and Xbox One.