With PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) getting more and more popular, the number of people playing the game is increasing by the thousands. Just today, PUBG hit a record of 400 million worldwide players. Now, as amazing as it is, this rapid growth has led to an increase in the number of hacks and cheats being used in the game which has left the community desperately asking for the developers to introduce in features like PUBG Region Lock.

However, before I get on with the details regarding PUBG Region Lock, let us first talk about what this feature really and what impact will it have on the game.

PUBG Region Lock

One of the features of online video game genre is the presence of what are called “Regions” which allow developers to categorize its player base according to their location. Now, there are quite a lot of advantages with these regions which include better connections and the removal of language barriers. However, in the case of PUBG, things a little different.

Like most online games, PUBG features the ability to switch regions which is pretty much a standard in today’s day and age. However, the community thinks otherwise as PUBG features serious issues with hackers and cheaters. So, with open regions, Hackers have access to raid other regions and ruin the fun for all.

Why Do Players Want PUBG Region Lock?

According to most players, it seems most of the hacks and cheats are emerging from the Chinese region. Now, this has led to the community to get enraged resulting in numerous demands for a PUBG China Region Lock, if not for a better anti-cheat engine. Just check out this petition which already has around 9,000 signatures.

Hopefully, by bringing in PUBG Region Lock, notorious regions like China are going to be locked which would mean that Chinese players will not able to play in any other region, apart from their own. So, you can pretty much imagine why players want region lock more than anything right now.

And this is not all as with Region switching in play, high ping has also become an issue. Now you would think that the player with the high ping will be at a disadvantage but it is the complete opposite. Players with stable connections are the victims here due to hit registration which grants high ping player quite the significant advantage in the game.

So, with both these elements in play, you can pretty much imagine why the players want a region lock. Every post or announcement made by Bluehole Studios, whether on Steam or Twitter, it is bombarded with comments and message all stating “Region Lock China”. It is the game most sought-after feature as of right now.

The Developers Say On PUBG Region Lock

Previously, the developers remained quite adamant on the fact that the game does not need PUBG China Region Lock. The reason for this was the fact that even after a Region Lock, players will still be able to connect to other regions with the help of a VPN. This is not entirely a bad thing as in some cases the use of Kill Ping has helped players access game content from different regions but for PUBG the problem is quite different.

“I mean everyone that (suggests) region locking (is forgetting about) VPN. It just doesn’t work. We just implemented ping-based matchmaking which really has improved the gameplay experience for a lot of players. It’s working out quite well and we’re still doing research. We have the data team looking into it and trying to improve it. And that’s the goal with the game, to keep improving it over this year and the next year and the next ten years.” – Brendan Greene

However, with more reports coming in and the community more and more aggressive, Brendan Greene—aka PlayerUnknown himself, came out with a statement mentioning the release of the region lock. Here is a statement from the lead developer himself regarding the release of the PUBG Region Lock;

“One of the solutions we are considering is operating servers so that only those players who reside in that region can connect and play. These servers will be made invisible to players residing in other regions. But, at the same time, if a player in an exclusive server region forms a team with a player from another region, they can connect to and play on any of the servers available to either of them.” – Brendan Greene

Hence, it is now somewhat confirmed that the developers are working on bringing in a region locks into the game. But apart from that, not much is known.

PUBG China Region Lock Release Date

With the developers working on the PUBG Region Lock, the community members are quite satisfied at the moment as at least their calls have been heard. However, since the last announcement regarding the region lock was made a few months back, the community is flaring up again as no additional information is being made public to them.

But I might think that with the developers working on the third map for the game, the entire workforce was busy with the release for that. And since the release is just around the corner for the third map, think the next update will finally bring in the region lock to the game. But this is just a mere speculation. Hence, a grain of salt is advised.