Hello players!
The PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS 2023 Roadmap released last month ushered in a change in map service plans. We have mentioned that the goal of the 2023 map service plan is to allow players to access their favorite maps without waiting too long.
In today's announcement, we would like to elaborate on the PUBG team's intentions for the map service plan that will be implemented from Update 23.1. We will first provide an overview of the map service update schedule and plan summary before delving into the full details.
Map Service Update Schedule
- PC: April 12
- Console: April 20
Map Service Plan
(The details of the plan may be subject to change.)
From Update 23.1 onwards, maps will rotate on a weekly basis! The changes that will be applied to Normal Match and Ranked are as follows.
Normal Matches (One week cycle)
- Fixed: Erangel / Sanhok
- Rotation Set 1: Taego / Deston / Paramo
- Rotation Set 2: Miramar / Vikendi / Karakin
- Rotation Sets 1 and 2 will alternate each week.
Ranked Mode (One season cycle)
- Erangel / Miramar / Taego / Deston
※ The plan above applies to both PC and Console.
※ Maps are rotated every Wednesday at 11 AM KST for PC / every Thursday at 4 PM KST for Console.
※ The map service plan and schedule for each update can be found in our monthly patch notes.
What PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS Team Aims to Achieve
Having a variety of maps is definitely one of the factors that add to a game's appeal. As players have diverse preferences given the availability of multiple maps, we aim to cater to as many players as possible by altering the rotation cycle.
Why not just offer all maps and make everyone happy? Learning a map is in some ways the toughest part of a game and going through a whole bunch of maps to master every one of them is a steep learning curve. Too many maps available as options will also slow down matchmaking.
Hence, we took into account multiple factors, including ensuring a seamless matchmaking environment, incorporating a diverse range of maps, fostering an environment where players can improve their mastery of the maps, and providing a stable service. We felt that 5 maps for Normal Match and 4 for Ranked would be the optimal choice that offers both variety and mastery.
This will provide some leeway for existing players, ease the onboarding process for new players, and offer pro teams the best environment to have deeper, more exciting playbooks. Shall we now go into more details about this year's map service plan?
Normal Match
In Normal Match, Erangel and Sanhok will remain fixed, and rotation sets 1 and 2 will be rotated on a weekly basis.
We have come up with a one week map rotation cycle (4-5 rotations per update) so that a variety of maps will be more frequently available along with Erangel and Sanhok. The previous map rotation system had the advantage of offering certain maps for a whole month, but one month was a bit too long to wait when your favorite map was not included in the rotation. Although changing the cycle from a month to a week is a fairly drastic shift, we have decided to make this change for a more flexible map service.
Good news is each map rotation will be applied without maintenance after Update 23.1, allowing players to enjoy a new rotation more quickly than before. Also, when new content is added to a specific map, that map will be included in the update week's rotation.
Some of you may have questions about the composition of the rotation sets at this point, right? To answer those queries, we would like to share the graphs that show map select/leave rates for Erangel / Miramar / Sanhok / Haven below.
Haven is not included in the Normal Match rotation map pool due to its low usage rate. But for all the Haven enjoyers out there, it will still be accessible in custom matches.
Additionally, Sanhok is fixed based on global map preference shown in the graph above.
By improving the Normal Match map rotation system itself, we want to provide a more flexible service in terms of map rotation cycle and map pool change, and at the same time create a map rotation service suitable for PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS.
Ranked
In the case of Ranked, 4 maps will be rotated approximately every 2 months in a season cycle. Following the 23.1 update, Erangel / Miramar / Taego / Deston will be in service as previously described. Erangel, Miramar, and Taego will be fixed for 2023, giving players the opportunity to experience the maps they play in Ranked in Esports as well. This alignment will help bridge the gap between Ranked and Esports, along with synchronizing the rulesets as Taego, Deston, and Vikendi are gradually introduced into official Esports tournaments this year.
The map service plan for Ranked will proceed with 8x8km maps, and Deston has been added to the rotation map pool. The probability of the rotation map is subject to change depending on the service performance. Also, there is a chance Vikendi may be added to the Ranked map pool as a rotation map in the future, so those who love the desolate snowfield can look forward to it!
That's a wrap for our map service plan for 2023. Although today's announcement may not have addressed all of your inquiries, we will strive to develop improved plans to help players enjoy varied experiences in PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS and keep you informed about our agendas.
As always, your feedback is a great reference while we are making decisions and we encourage you to always keep those thoughts and suggestions coming!
Thank you!
PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS Team