21 November 2025

PUBG is Getting Its Own Extraction Shooter

By newsgame

PUBG: Black Budget, a new extraction shooter from PUBG Corporation and Krafton, has just been announced. This marks the second PUBG project announced this year, with PUBG: Blindspot – a 5v5 team-based top-down tactical shooter – being revealed back in February.

The PUBG franchise began life in March 2017 with the early access release of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, an incredibly influential battle royale game inspired by the titular creator’s ARMA 2 mod, DayZ: Battle Royale. In July 2021, publisher Krafton officially changed the name of the battle royale game to PUBG: Battlegrounds, and announced its intentions to build an entertainment franchise around the IP. A mobile game set in the PUBG universe was released in November 2021, and Striking Distance Studios’ The Callisto Protocol was originally intended to be set in the far future of the PUBG universe.

On November 21, 2025, developer PUBG Corporation and publisher Krafton announced PUBG: Black Budget. The official Steam page for the newly announced game describes it as “an extraction shooter built around tension, survival, and the unknown,” where players explore a mysterious island set in a time loop and surrounded by a supernatural entity known as the ‘Anomaly.’ While PUBG: Battlegrounds lets players swap between first and third-person, PUBG: Black Budget has been designed primarily with a first-person perspective in mind. The game’s Steam page lists the following key features:

A 2.5 x 2.5km open world
Play sessions designed to last up to 30 minutes
Level and squad-based matchmaking for up to 3-player squads
45 players per session
PvPvE encounters
The Anomaly shrinks the playable area during the course of a match
Three rival factions offering unique missions and rewards tied to a loyalty system
Meta progression through skills and permanent upgrade systems
Customizable and upgradable base
Research station offers narrative progression
Extensive weapon and gear customization

PUBG: Black Budget is entering the extraction shooter scene at a very interesting time. Embark Studios’ Arc Raiders has been a major hit with both critics and general audiences since its release last month, and one of the biggest pioneers of the genre, Escape from Tarkov, has just launched into 1.0. Though it has the PUBG brand recognition on its side, PUBG: Black Budget is still going to face some serious competition when it eventually launches.

No official release date for PUBG: Black Budget has been confirmed just yet, but eager fans can sign up for its closed alpha test via its Steam page. The PUBG: Black Budget closed alpha will focus on testing combat pacing, extraction balance, early-game systems, and player progression, and it has two confirmed dates:

Week 1: Friday, December 12 01:00 PST — Sunday, December 14 23:59 PST
Week 2: Friday, December 19 01:00 PST — Sunday, December 21 23:59 PST