PUBG: Black Budget has been officially cancelled following multiple playtests

Late last year, Krafton and PUBG Studios officially showed off PUBG: Black Budget – a PvPvE tactical extraction shooter set on a remote island filled with supernatural anomalies. Having hosted closed alpha playtests back in December, followed by a second set of tests this past Summer, the team have now decided not to proceed any further with the project – officially ceasing development on the game.

Taking to the game’s Steam page to make the announcement, the team at PUBG Studios shared its latest and seemingly final development update on Black Budget, writing:

“After reviewing the project’s development status and future direction, we concluded that its current direction would not allow us to deliver an experience players could enjoy over the long term. We have therefore made the difficult decision to end development of PUBG: Black Budget. We sincerely thank everyone who took the time to participate in our Closed Alpha tests and share their feedback.”

The team concluded by stating: “PUBG STUDIOS will carry what we learned from development and testing into future projects, continuing to listen to players as we explore new gameplay experiences. Thank you.”

While the original PUBG continues to be highly popular almost a decade on from its launch (maintaining an average daily peak of 600-700 thousand players on Steam alone), its various spin-offs have been far less successful.

Of course, there’s the aforementioned PUBG: Black Budget which has now been cancelled, but prior to this we also saw the top-down PUBG: Blindspot being cancelled back in March after less than two months in Early Access.

What this means for the future of the franchise remains to be seen. While it is safe to assume that the OG Battlegrounds will continue to truck along, this latest announcement has led some to wonder whether their other spin-off – the multiplayer FPS rogue-lite ‘DED.NET’ – will likewise see an untimely cancellation.

KitGuru says: What did you think of PUBG: Black Budget? Did you manage to get into any of the playtests? Did the game have potential? Let us know down below.

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