Tencent Africa has announed the imminent launch of its dedicated PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile (PUBG Mobile) servers in South Africa.
The announcement was made at the PUBG Mobile Club Open (PMCO) 2019 held at the at the Estrel Congress Center in Berlin, Germany this week.
PUBG Mobile was released globally on 19 March 2018 and is the worlds most played battle royale shooter on any mobile platform, gaining a large following due to its realism and game performance.
Globally, mobile gaming accounts for a third* of all downloads in 2019 and this number is set to increase in the next 12 months.
Making the announcement at the second day of the PMCO Global Finals in Berlin, Vincent Wang, GM, Global Publishing Department at Tencent Games said that PUBG Mobile has over 400-million downloads around the world with more than 50 million people playing this game every day.
“Last year we announced that we will introduce a Middle East server and this year, to ensure players from all over the world are well connected, we will be launching African servers,” says Wang.
Although the launch date has not been confirmed, the PUBG Mobile African servers is expected to go live before the end of the year.
Wang also announced an updated version of Erangel map and a new collaboration between PUBG Mobile and AMC’s The Walking Dead that will come out later this year.
Players can also expect a new version of the game called PUBG Mobile Lite, aimed at lower-end devices. “We made a Lite version because we want more players from around the world to enjoy PUBG Mobile. The Lite version is compatible with significantly more devices and has a much smaller installation size.”
PUBG MOBILE Lite will be available on Google Play later this month.
Driving the launch of Africa’s first dedicated PUBG Mobile servers is Tramayne Monaghan, chief innovation officer at Tencent Africa. “With the launch of Africa’s first PUBG MOBILE servers we want to show the continent that we are dedicated to the world of mobile gaming and we have seriously big plans for this region.”
As a result of these local servers, gamers will enjoy a much lower latency in the Southern African region, delivering a gaming experience exactly like the developers intended.
Monaghan says Tencent Africa sees esports as the future of sport and he believes we can crown a global champion from Africa. Tencent Africa will be launching multiple leagues and competitions across the southern African region in the coming months.
PMCO 2019 is the first major PUBG Mobile esports event this year and will see sixteen squads from around the world compete for chicken dinners and the ultimate bragging rights at the global finals taking place on the 28th of July 2019.