The globally popular battle royale game "PlayerUnknowns Battlegrounds (PUBG)" has been operating in the form of a beta test in China for a long time without permission to operate an online game, but on the 8th of this month, the company announced the cancellation of the test distribution. Instead, it transferred users to "Game for Peace", a patriotic anti-terrorism game with a very similar play style, and obtained permission from the authorities to operate the game for a fee.
An unprecedented accomplishment in the face of harsh evaluation.
According to Sensor Tower, a U.S. app analysis company, in-app purchases on iOS exceeded US$20 million (approx. 2.191 billion JPY) in the first five days after service launch, once recording the world's highest sales in app stores. The game later became the world's second largest in terms of in-app sales after the battle arena game "Honor of Kings", also distributed by Tencent.
Although some users have criticized PUBG for the inability to transfer items and the new feel of the game, overall the game seems to be doing well.
All expressions have been mildly changed.
Although it has sold well as the successor to PUBG in China, in order to comply with regulations imposed by the authorities, "Game for Peace" has been stripped of all gore, with players waving and offering treasure chests when defeated, blood sprays becoming fireworks and other effects, and players receiving a cake instead of a chicken dinner when they win. It is also true that the extremely peaceful and exercising way of expressing the game has caused a backlash from PUBG fans.
Also, since the word "death" is now banned, the phrase "you die when your HP value is reduced" has been changed to "you leave the room when your radio wave value is reduced" by being shot.
Other frustrating changes include the fact that the safe zone is now a mysterious radio zone, where instead of continuous damage, the radio gauge is reduced, and if the gauge is used up without recovering it with an item, the game is over.
Are core gamers switching to other games?
We often see comments that it is easier to get first place than in PUBG, which suggests that veteran players have quit or decided to continue playing PUBG on overseas servers, but there are also many players who stay in "Game for Peace" due to lag or simply the desire to play against people from the same country. However, there may be a few players who will stay in PUBG due to lag or simply the desire to play with people from the same country. Whether or not "Game for Peace" will survive may depend on how the management handles the situation.