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PUBG On Xbox One Doesn't Perform As Well As The PC Version

They call it "Early Access" for a reason.

131 Comments

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is one of the Xbox One's biggest launches of the holiday season. But now that the game is out on the console, it turns out that it's a bit rough right now. Recently, Digital Foundry did an in-depth breakdown of the Xbox One and Xbox One X versions of the game, and it showed that they've got a long way to go before they're in line with the PC version.

It's not exactly surprising that the game doesn't perform as well on the base Xbox One, since porting a PC-first game like PUBG to a relatively weak platform is a difficult task. In addition, it's currently in Early Access, so it's expected to be less polished. As Digital Foundry notes, when you join a game, "You're instantly besieged by low resolution textures that seem to be failing to stream in properly, combined with performance just above or below the 20fps threshold."

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Now Playing: PUBG On Xbox One: All The Launch Details! - GS News Roundup

But what's more surprising is that the much more powerful Xbox One X also struggles to run the game. In its testing, Digital Foundry found similar issues sustaining a decent frame rate and dealing with texture pop-in. Overall, across both consoles, the main takeaway is that the game is inconsistent: "An extended journey across the landscape in a jeep can play out smoothly enough, with a flawless 30fps line. Meanwhile, entering a house, opening a toilet door and exchanging fire with a lurking assailant can see frame-rate dip to 20fps for no reason we can readily come up with."

There are some improvements on the Xbox One X, including higher resolution textures, certain improvements in frame rate, and foliage draw distances. Visually, it's a huge improvement over the base console, but in terms of performance, it's just as inconsistent.

For all its issues, Digital Foundry does note that the game is nonetheless in a playable state--and if you're determined to get a PUBG experience on consoles, the Xbox One versions are not broken. But performance and visuals are inconsistent, and with Microsoft providing assistance for the port, it's surprising that the versions launched in their current state. Hopefully, as PUBG's Xbox One Early Access period progresses, developer PUBG Corp will continue making improvements and increasing consistency.

If you decide to jump into the game on Xbox One, be sure to check out our Beginner's Guide for getting started in PUBG. It's a complicated game, and it'll help you a lot to know some tips and tricks before you even start playing. In other news, if you're playing on PC, the game is expected to leave Steam Early Access later this month.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

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ikedeez

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Edited By ikedeez

I've been playing the game on PC for months and it's awesome either way. Of course it's not as nice as the PC version, but it's still the same damn game. The only difference now, is that I get to enjoy that shit with my Xbox live homies after talking about it for months. This is a win. Stop hating and let people enjoy themselves.

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Neoistheone

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Edited By Neoistheone

This game is fun.

It's definitely playable.

Usually the people that say it's not don't own an Xbox or play the game.

Really Framerates only drop below 20fps in moments when the game is loading or in moments that you can't move or walk around. That's what digital foundry has been talking about.

Until I pointed out the real issues with the game to them.lol

They had the game earlier than I did yet I knew the bugs and problems before them. That just shows how little digital foundry played the game. It took me 4 hours to figure out the problems. They didn't play it enough to find real problems so they trashed the framerates in the loading screen and the drop in.lol

It wasn't until actual gamers told them the real issues that they went back and decided to play it for more than an hour to find the real issues. I'm sure they're going to post that video soon, but they won't mention that you can rejoin in less than a minute. I've actually won a match because of this bug.lol

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rarerichz

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Edited By rarerichz

PUBG is just poorly optimized that is the real issue , xbox one x should have no problem running this game at 1080 60fps. it uses a rx 480 that is basically a gtx 1060 in power. no way around this one it is all on the developer.

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Creepywelps

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@rarerichz: Hate to break it to you but the GPU isn't the issue. It's the potato cpu in the console. It will never be 60 fps.

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sealionact

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@creepywelps: it's definitely a Dev issue. On the title screen, there's one player model. It takes a good 3 to 4 seconds for the textures to fully appear on one player model. There's no way that it is the CPU that is causing ONE character to take so long to draw...it's deffo a case of poor optimization.

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Creepywelps

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@sealionact: For that specific thing, yes that is optimization. For actual gameplay it's a combination of weak cpu, inexperienced developers, and terrible servers. Even if the optimization is fixed it's still never going to be 60fps on consoles. They should be able to lock it at 30 on the x tho, if the devs get their act together.

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juninhotorres

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see why it's not eligible for GOTY?

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Neoistheone

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@juninhotorres: but it's literally the best and most popular game of the year. Definitely the best multiplayer available for consoles right now.

It's rightfully the game of the year.

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juninhotorres

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@neoistheone: but it's not ready yet. how did we get such low standards that we accept an unfinished game to be GOTY?

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Neoistheone

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@juninhotorres: we aren't trying to crown the best looking or performing game. This is for goty. We're trying to crown the most popular, best rated, and best selling game. This game is highly rated, very popular, and has sold close to 30million copies worldwide.

I don't think any other game from the past year can match up on those fronts. Over watch is one I can think of, but I'm not a fan of it. Not bad though.

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Berrlett

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Edited By Berrlett

So to sum up MS/Xbox Division lost November NPD with the release of the X to Sony..... Again.. and the only hope to revive any sort of self pride through damage control was PUBG and it came out as a complete mess. How is Xbox still in business and who buys a 500 USD console for this ?

Don't you just love how the Xbox community reacting to this ? they're'll going, "its an early access" "its just a preview not a real game" etc and before release it was hailed as the ultimate combo (Xbox one x & PUBG) that will take the industry by storm and destroys everything in its path.

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Neoistheone

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@berrlett: this game is fun. This will probably be the best selling exclusive of the year.

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onehitta323

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@berrlett: only the fanboys pretty much. The casual gamer doesn't even know what an x1x is if you ask them. If you told them about it, they wouldn't care to upgrade to it either.

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onehitta323

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Edited By onehitta323

Lol look at all these x bot fanboys trying to defend their precious x flop. The game is a total disaster on the Xbox or x1x. I've seen it in action. My pc looks way better and plays flawlessly compared to the xbox versions. Yes of course The pc version has issues but nothing like this. The CPU is complete trash. $500+ for inconsistent frame rates? N64 looking updated graphics? Epic fail. Dips have been seen as low as 5 fps. If you actually survive till the end of the match, you will end up in the hospital due to the blurry, inconsistent frame rate that will cause severe nausea. Buyer beware.

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lolatPCnoobs

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Edited By lolatPCnoobs

@onehitta323: LOL you sound butt hurt just because a game came to xbox. It's sad how sensitive PC players get over this, you must have a sad sad life kid.

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onehitta323

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@lolatpcnoobs: Why would I be butt hurt when I have the better platform for this game? LOL try again fanboy.

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lolatPCnoobs

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@onehitta323: Funny i play on the pc, dont know how im a fanboy. Guess cause my name? That's just to make people like you butthurt even more. Looks like it worked lol. I mean who gets mad a game came out on xbox, when it was just a bad and even worse when it came out for PC. Please try to tell me it wasn't. Just look at the streams

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Neoistheone

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@onehitta323: after the loading screen and drop in the framerates aren't that bad. Unless you're driving. While you're actually fighting the framerates are pretty stable. Either way everyone is experiencing the same frame dips so we're all on a level playing field. It makes the game much more challenging than on pc. I have around 300 wins on pc and only 2 on xbox. It's hard these guys can play compared to kb&m players.

You do have a point though. I once got motion sickness on Xbox while I was on a motorcycle. I was about to run over a guy but the camera kept jumping and it made me feel sick.

Last time it happened to me was on spyro.

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redviperofdorne

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I don't understand the heat on PUBG. First off, It's a game preview and they make that perfectly clear. It's not a finished product yet and probably won't be for a year or two and I am ok with that. The game is a ton of fun already and that's with a near bare minimum. And with the Version 1 update just 6 days away, I think it's gonna be fine.

I would like to see the graphics improved as I don't see the point of offering 4K gaming (or ultra high def) when this game looks like a potato. Fix the stupid loot boxes too, I bought 1 crate and I got 1 item and it takes a lot to earn a crate. Make so when you add an attachment, It's noticeable from the jump. Often times I add one, It feels like it did nothing for the gun I have it equipped too. Also, Let's stop team killing when playing in duos or squad, It's so annoying having teammates kill me for my loot.

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sealionact

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@redviperofdorne: There's only heat from haters. I'm enjoying it a lot.

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Creepywelps

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@sealionact: Oh you don't think there is any valid criticisms for the game?

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Edited By sealionact

@creepywelps: Oh sure! There's no achievements for some reason, it's crashed twice since yesterday, there are texture problems in the lobby, and there are noticeably lower frame rates when in the plane....

After the game proper starts, it runs pretty well. Haven't seen huge dropoffs in frame rates..

It's what I've been expecting since it was released into the early access program, and the Devs said that it would release about 6 months of updates worse than the current pc version .

It's still brilliant fun.

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Creepywelps

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Edited By Creepywelps

@sealionact: According to df there are notable frame drops in a lot more places than just the plane. Happy you're enjoying yourself though.

Edit: after seeing this

https://youtu.be/MdGBwrJ6rtI

I honestly don't know how this game was even released.

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Neoistheone

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@creepywelps: it hasn't been released.

Even the pc build hasn't released and that almost a year ahead of the console version.

This game will stay in development for at least a year. It may launch on xb1 and ps4 in 2019.

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Creepywelps

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@neoistheone: I'm aware, I've owned the game since it's release on ea.

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Neoistheone

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@creepywelps: Well you're one sharp gamer. Lots of folks think pubg is in its finished state. They don't realize that they aren't even half way through with the pubg development for Xbox and consoles.

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sealionact

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@creepywelps: Oh wow ... No, it looks nothing like that on x1x. The texture on the floor in the lobby pre-game is the only time I see real texture dips. I seriously can't believe that it looks that bad on vanilla .... I mean who would play that?
Nope, I'm not seeing notable frame drops .... but I'm not measuring them. I'm sure they dip down, but it's certainly playable, and doesn't effect gameplay.

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Dr_Vancouver

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Yeah I checked out that DF comparison vid. I've recently seen PC footage that actually looked okay, but to my eyes the XBoneX version looked like an N64 game and the base XBone version looked like PS1 trying to compete with a N64 3D game. I hope that this gets quite a magic patch, cuz framerates on both versions looked like N64 Perfect Dark with 4 players/8 sims/no ram expander. Yeesh. I'll check back when the game actually launches, IDK how long that will be but it looks like a Black Friday 2018 at best from the footage I've seen...

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DEVILTAZ35

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@dr_vancouver: An N64 game running in 4k native lol yeah right. You can knock the X against PC all you like but it's not as bad as that lol . The CPU is a limiting factor though granted but the dev already had the game running at 60 fps on the X so the choice of lowering the performance down to standard Xbox One is obviously hurting it.

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Thanatos2k

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Edited By Thanatos2k

@deviltaz35: You can run Mario 2 in "native 4k", it won't make the game look better.

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DEVILTAZ35

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@Thanatos2k: It will actually as it introduces 16 x Anisotropic filtering by default :) . Well that is if you could run mario 2 on the X lol

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Neoistheone

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@deviltaz35: you can but only through the built in emulators.

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sealionact

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@dr_vancouver: Wow. What N64 are you thinking of?

Only issue for me is frame rates until I land, then everything looks good in 4k, and I'm having a lot of fun with the game.

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DEVILTAZ35

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Edited By DEVILTAZ35

@sealionact: They are just being PC snobs lol . Anyone with even half a brain realised it's early access. The dev has stated it's about 5-6 months behind the PC release . This has even been backed up by people on Youtube previewing the game. It's still an early access title so anyone worried about framerate or graphics shouldn't buy it anyway.

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Dr_Vancouver

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@sealionact: the one from the late 90's, why, does your XBoneX run a different version than the one DF made a comparison video of? If so I'd like to see what that might look like. So far looks underwhelming to be as complimentary as possible- I think early access just isn't what I built my livingroom to show off.

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