One of the most exciting changes in Battlegrounds since release has been the addition of first person only servers. Not having the third person camera means people tend to camp a lot less, due to the decreased vision, and it makes for a faster game overall.
But right now, first person servers are restricted to Asia and North America. And despite consistent lobbying from players, PUBG‘s lead community manager has confirmed that’s the way things will stay.
In a post on the official PUBG Discord, which was reposted to the game’s subreddit, lead community manager Sammie Kang said that the Oceania region (which includes Australia and New Zealand) was too small to withstand a splitting of the playerbase.
“I’ve said it on Twitter but the truth is, current player base in OCE is too small for us to add another game mode,” Kang explained.
“We actively monitor data from different servers and game modes on a regular basis. Even if we consider players who are playing on other servers, the number is so small that it could mean (1) increased matchmaking time or (2) a small number of players in every session which can both result in negative player experience.”
She added that Bluehole was “currently looking into a solution” and was midway through that process, but as it stands first person only servers won’t be coming to Oceania until they work out a solution.
Personally, I wouldn’t mind waiting an extra 30 seconds or a minute to get a higher quality game. It’s not like queues for PUBG are particularly long as-is, whether it’s in solo, duo or squad play.
But any impact on matchmaking times are a lot greater in PUBG than they are other games, simply because of the numbers of people affected. So I don’t blame Bluehole for being cautious. Hopefully they work out something soon, but for now, it’s third person or off to North America/Asia.
Leave a Reply