Recently, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds revealed they were finally rolling out custom matches as part of the game’s latest PC patch. It’s been a much-requested feature, but fan excitement was blunted when PUBG Corp. hinted they may eventually lock custom matches behind a paywall.
At PUBG Global Invitational in Berlin, PlayerUnknown himself Brendan Greene seemingly confirmed players will have to pay for custom servers. Greene justified the move, saying custom matches are actually a form of light modding…
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“For me it is about building a platform for game modes. That’s what custom mode is there to do – it’s like modding lite. We really want to give and empower the players to create new modes, as well providing our own presets for people to experiment with.
I was a modder for many years, and I didn’t expect ARMA to provide me with free servers to mod on, and it’s the same with this. We can’t provide people with free servers. There has to be a way to pay for servers through some sort of wall – either points, BP or money. We just can’t provide free servers for everyone, it’s just not a sustainable business model. I still pay for ARMA 3 servers to this day, because that’s just how the world works.”
Whether or not charging for custom matches is justified really depends on how deep PUBG lets players go. If players can create new modes right from scratch – new mechanics, rules, and everything – then maybe you can accept the “it’s actually light modding” explanation. That said, the way PUBG Corp. has described custom matches, it sounds like you just pick from one of four basic modes, and add some extra pre-set rules on top. I don’t see myself shelling out any cash for something like that. What about you? Would you ever pay for custom matches?
Custom matches are currently available (for free) on the PUBG test servers. The feature should be going live for all players sometime soon.
