PUBG Arcade Mode Update brings Team Deathmatch and more

Once the crown jewel of first-person multiplayer shooters, PUBG has seen its popularity fade over the years, particularly against the backdrop of rival Fortnite’s otherworldly success. Despite a regression from its all-time peak in popularity, the game still enjoys 200K concurrent players per day. Developer Bluehole continues to work hard on PUBG, fine-tuning balance and adding new content. The newest major update for the game will be version 6.2, also known as the Arcade Mode update. The biggest addition included with the update will be the introduction of an official Team Deathmatch mode along with a balance pass on throwable weapons.

Arcade Mode is intended to offer the player base for PUBG a different way to get in on the action when they need a break from battle royale. The first new mode will be Team Deathmatch and it offers 8v8 FPP fights on seven different battlefields pulled from the game’s various maps. Team Deathmatch features classic PUBG gunplay and mechanics with the ability to respawn back into the fight after death. The boost gauge functions differently in Team Deathmatch and fills by scoring kills and assists, restoring your health after you haven’t received damage for 5 seconds. The team with the most kills in 10 minutes or the first to reach 50 kills wins the round, with 2 round wins securing the match victory.

Throwables are receiving a major balance pass from Bluehole, with the various alterations listed below:

Frag Grenades

Vests now mitigate damage received from Frag Grenades, but vest durability isn’t reduced when taking damage from Frags.

Damage mitigation amount is dependent on the level of vest worn by the player, with the same % reduction as for bullet damage.

Frags will deal 20% less damage to prone players.
Item weight increased by 50%.

Each Frag Grenade now takes 27 inventory capacity, up from 18.

Pulling the pin of a Frag is now louder and audible from further away.

Smoke Grenades

Decreased fuse time from 3 seconds to 1 second.

Stun Grenades

Increased indirect hit effect radius

Up to 6.5m, from 5.5m.

Ringing sound now impacts players through walls

This matches the Frag Grenade mechanic, although the impact affects a smaller radius.

Added slight camera shake to players near the explosion.
Default fuse time mechanic:

Stuns now explode 0.7 sec after first impact, or after fuse timer runs out, whichever comes first.
Fuse time without cooking has been increased to 5 sec.

2.5-second fuse timer when cooking the stun remains unchanged.

Molotov Cocktail

Increased the speed at which fire spreads by 50%.
Fire can now spread slightly further, with an increased damage radius.
Changed the way fire spreads around objects. Fire will now more consistently reach the backside of objects (especially thin objects like trees).
Re-introduced direct damage while standing in fire, in addition to existing damage over time.

Players in fire will now take an additional 10 damage per second

Fire now reaches higher and should be obstructed less by small objects.

Frag and Stun Grade visual effects have also been updated, alongside a more realistic Frag Grenade sound.

For more information on the 6.2 update, refer to the official PUBG blog post for the patch. For help getting the most performance out of your PUBG experience, refer to our settings optimization guide.