It really was just a matter of time before PUBG announced its own version of an extraction shooter. With ARC Raiders’ popularity continuing to grow, PUBG Studios is looking to enter the fray with PUBG: Black Budget. Players won’t have to wait long to see how it plays either, as the game will be conducting two closed alpha tests on PC next month. The first session takes place from December 12 to December 14, while the second will be December 19 to December 21. Exact times haven’t been announced, but publisher Krafton did confirm it’ll total six days across two weeks. If you’re interested, you can request access on the game’s official Steam store page.
The test will be available across North America, Europe, and Asia, with language support for English, Korean, Russian, and Chinese. PUBG: Black Budget hopes to redefine the extraction shooter genre with more of a focus on exploration and discovery rather than pure survival and combat. The game is set on Coli, a mysterious island that is trapped in a time loop, seemingly caused by a supernatural phenomenon called the Anomaly. Throughout the area, players will deal with various PvPvE threats while hunting down technology and finding the truth behind the black-budget initiative SAPIENS.
If you’re unable to participate in the closed alpha test, expect plenty of coverage online, since players can freely stream, capture, and share gameplay during the test period. There will also be Twitch Drops during the event for access keys.
Extraction shooters are growing in popularity, and might be the new “flavor of the month” as more and more developers turn to the genre. Bungie has been struggling a bit trying to figure out Marathon, which recently got delayed indefinitely. Meanwhile, ARC Raiders is off to a real hot start, selling over four million units and becoming the most successful launch in publisher Nexon’s history.
