PUBG adds more cosmetic crates, minority of community furious over paid-for Gamescom crate

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds next monthly content patch will take place on Thursday August 3, bringing another host of additional content, including three new sets of loot boxes, which are proving somewhat controversial.

Two of the crates, the Wanderer Crate and Survivor Crate, will join the existing Pioneer Crate in the game permanently and be free to open, purchased with in-game credits. People aren’t too annoyed about that, more cosmetics in the game is a good thing, especially when the Pioneer crate is, let’s be honest, full of some drab gear.

I’ve played nearly 700 hours of the game, and I’m wearing camo trousers and a dirty tank top. I demand to look fabulous.

No, what’s annoying people is the addition of the Gamescom crate, which will feature five distinct outfits, based on the movie Battle Royale. These crates must be opened with a key that’ll be available for $2.50, with proceeds from, the crate used to organise a PUBG invitational that has been announced for Gamescom.

A popular post on the PUBG subreddit, which has over 7000 upvotes but I won’t link here because  the comments have descended into outright name calling, features half of the comments calling out developers Bluehole and half of the comments calling those upset names.

You can see photos of the new cosmetics here on the PUBG announcement. 

You’re not supposed to put too much opinion into a news post, but in this case it’s hard not to just state the obvious: cosmetic items are an opt-in procedure that give dedicated players a way to express themselves in a way that’s financially beneficial to the developers, but provides no tangible gameplay benefit beyond looking rad.

If the idea of paid for cosmetics makes players feel like the game they’re playing is ruined, it’s worth remembering that similar systems in several other AAA games has monetised well enough that they can keep working on the game for a long period of time, instead of abandoning it for something else.

Also, the proceeds in this specific case are to crowdfund the prizepool from the Gamescom, and individual items can be purchased on the marketplace, ensuring players can easily acquire the items you want without getting them from the crates.

The contentious paid-for Gamescom crate will be removed from sale on August 27 when Gamescom has ended.