The dreaded blue zone of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds will soon deal more damage over time, which will make one of the massively popular Battle Royale-inspired shooter's most unique features even deadlier.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds broke the Steam record for most number of players at the same time on a single game last month, but developer Bluehole Studio has not stopped working on the still-unfinished title.
What Is The 'PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' Blue Zone?
The PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds gameplay is inspired by Battle Royale, a Japanese film released in 2000 that saw students fight to the death until one remains standing. A similar concept was seen in the Hunger Games book and movie franchise.
Matches of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds starts with 100 players parachuting from a plane and into an island. Players are then left to fend for themselves or with their team, finding weapons and working out strategies with the ultimate goal of surviving to the end.
The blue zone keeps the action going in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Every few minutes, the playable area of the map shrinks, and players who are caught outside that area and in the blue zone start receiving damage incrementally. This is one of the game's most unique features as it keeps players close to each other, and is a necessary one or else the game will slow down to a crawl as players can simply hide from their opponents.
Why Is The Blue Zone Changing?
In an update to its Steam community, the development team of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds revealed that the damage dealt over time by the blue zone will be increased. The change will first be applied in test servers, and will then be carried over to the main servers after feedback is received from players.
The change is necessary because of the rise of a tactic to stock up on healing items. The player or team will then wait in the blue zone just outside the edges of the play area, firing shots against opponents who try to escape the blue zone while keeping themselves alive with their healing items.
According to the development team, the upcoming change means that players will be forced to focus on the action inside the play zone, and will not have to watch out for shots coming from the blue zone. This will make gameplay fairer, but Bluehole will also need to address the prevalent PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds cheating issue that has made a lot of players frustrated.
The developer is in crucial times now, with the full release of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds expected soon. However, it is good to see that Bluehole is still working on changes such as the blue zone damage increase that will make the game even more fun for its loyal legion of followers.
