PUBG announces major bug-fixing campaign

If you've stumbled onto any of the PUBG Reddit forums since its release, you'll know it's pretty much impossible to go less than ten seconds before stumbling across the phrase "fix PUBG". The game's name has almost become synonymous with bugs and janky gameplay. Developer PUBG Corp has recently promised major improvements to the game, and it seems this time it's really serious about it, as the company has set up a website specifically to allow players to track bug-fixing progress.

In a post on Steam, PUBG Corp admitted "bugs, performance problems, and quality-of-life issues have been limiting PUBG's true potential," and said the time has come "to do something about it". The developer's new campaign, literally called "FIX PUBG," is apparently a "months-long campaign to deliver the changes and improvements that [players have] been asking for". According to PUBG Corp, this involves a "roadmap with specific details about our plans" which will be checked off as the developer delivers on its promises.

Looking at the Fix PUBG micro-site, the campaign is mainly about improving communication with players to inform them of fixes and improvements. The "roadmap" itself comes in the form of several visual graphs to display progress in a number of areas, including categories such as client performance, server performance, anti-cheat and matchmaking. Some of these promises have already been fulfilled, as according to the PUBG community manager on Reddit, the bug-fixing campaign actually began last week with update 19. PUBG Corp also announced it's delivering another patch today to help kick things off: limb penetration, a "graphics sharpening" setting and the ability to mute individual teammates are just some of the changes included in the patch. The FAQ section on the Fix PUBG website reveals this improvement process will continue over the next three months.

Given PUBG players have been asking for fixes since what feels like the dawn of time, unsurprisingly, many players expressed relief PUBG Corp has recognised the problem and is working to address it. Others, however, are less happy - many have complained this campaign is too little, too late.

It's certainly an unusual move for a developer to openly admit it has a problem with bugs. It's perhaps even rarer still for it to then be used as a PR tool. By validating player accusations the game is buggy, and only reacting to this after a year of complaints, has PUBG Corp jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire?