PUBG Lite, a free-to-play version for low-end machines, is shutting down in April

Bottom line: PUBG Lite, the free version of the popular battle royale game for lower-end computers, is being put out to pasture. The development isn’t entirely surprising if you’ve been following Lite closely, but still, it’s a change nevertheless that’ll no doubt impact a lot of gamers. Fortunately, those looking to keep playing PUBG have options moving forward.

The game’s developer recently informed players that “after much deliberation,” they have decided to shutter the game. The termination schedule is as follows:

• March 30, 2021: New downloads will no longer be available and the PUBG Lite website will be closed.
• April 29, 2021: End of service.
• May 29, 2021: Player support for Lite will no longer be available.

Gamers will be able to continue to play Lite and spend their in-game credits as normal until the termination date. No reason was cited for the shutdown.

PUBG Lite debuted in early 2019 in Thailand before expanding to other regions later that year. The game adopted a free-to-play model in late 2020.

The base game, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, is the brainchild of Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene. He started tinkering with the idea of a battle royale game in the early 2010s, first making mods for other games to introduce the functionality.

Eventually, developer Bluehole reached out to Greene about the prospect of creating a battle royale game. Shortly after, Greene joined the Bluehole team as creative director and got to work on what would become PUBG.

The base game is still available for a variety of platforms including PC, as is a variant for mobile devices called PUBG Mobile Lite.