Krafton Closes Free-to-Play PUBG Spin-Off After Brief Two-Month Run

Krafton has decided to discontinue PUBG Blindspot, a free-to-play spin-off of its popular PUBG Battlegrounds, after just two months in Early Access. This move comes despite the PUBG franchise contributing to the company's highest-ever annual revenue. However, it aligns with Krafton's policy of utilizing Early Access to quickly gauge a game's potential before dedicating more development resources. PUBG Blindspot, a tactical top-down shooter, launched into Early Access in January with promises of monthly updates and close community interaction. Although it initially peaked at 3,251 players, according to SteamDB, the game's player count dwindled to just a few hundred in recent weeks, despite receiving broadly positive feedback from players. In a statement on Steam, Arc Team's Sequioa Yang explained that after careful consideration, the team concluded it could no longer sustainably provide the intended experience through Early Access. Yang expressed gratitude for the players' feedback and support, which will continue to inform future development efforts. Krafton had earlier announced a shift towards a small-team development structure, focusing on early or targeted releases to quickly validate a game's potential before committing additional resources. The company is currently working on PUBG Black Budget, an extraction shooter announced in 2022, and PUBG New State, a mobile release from 2021. Krafton plans to expand the PUBG IP through cultural collaborations, long-term service improvements, and new game releases, while transforming the core PUBG Battlegrounds into a content platform with sandbox-oriented user-generated content. Recently, the company lost a legal battle with the leaders of its studio Unknown Worlds over the release of Subnautica 2, with the final judgment stating that Krafton fired the studio leadership to avoid paying bonuses.