Last week, PUBG developer Tencent displayed an advertising banner on Times Square hinting that something is coming with the mobile version of this popular Battle Royale game. Some fans have speculated that PUBG Mobile is establishing a partnership with Japanese famous clothing brand A Bathing Ape (BAPE). Today, those speculations proved to be true.

Image result for pubg mobile bape

On October 9, PUBG Mobile prompted an announcement when players launch the game. The announcement says that a new update was coming, although the server will still be online. According to it, this 143 MB update includes the following changes:

  • New outfits with exclusive emotes.
  • Adjusted pop-ups during login.
  • News now display information more efficiently.
  • Better daily sign-in rewards.
  • Swiping in vehicle page has been tuned.
  • You can open packs right after purchase.

Following the new update, several items from clothing brand BAPE, including frying pans, shark hoodies, accessories etc., will make an appearance in PUBG Mobile. This marks the game’s second partnership with another party, the first being with Mission Impossible: Fallout. In addition to this new cosmetic change, player expected the update to fix performance issues that popped up in patch 0.8.0. However, those who have experienced the new updated reported that they see no notable improvement in terms of performance.

Despite some issues, PUBG Mobile has an edge over its rival Fortnite in Asian markets such as China. It is very popular in this part of the world, according to statistics from market intelligence company Sensor Tower. The US market, on the other hand, contributes to only 30% of PUBG’s revenue. This is due a large part to PUBG Mobile’s availability on Android devices. Not only that, the developer actually did a good job optimizing the game. It could run smoothly even on low-end smartphones. Fortnite, on the other hand, is only available on iOS, and even then it is still hardware demanding. Given that access to devices such as PCs, consoles, and Apple products in Asia is somewhat restricted due to their cost and personal preference, PUBG coming out on top is nothing surprising.