PUBG Patch Rolls Out On PC Soon [Update: Servers Back Online, Patch Out Now]

Update: The new PUBG update is now live, along with the full patch notes. Original story follows.

A new update is on the way to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Starting tonight, March 12, at 7 PM PT / 10 PM ET (3 AM CET on March 13), developer PUBG Corp. will take the PC servers down for roughly three hours as it performs maintenance and moves the current test build over to the live game.

This marks the seventh major update PUBG has received since leaving early access back in December, and it introduces a number of new features to the game, such as the previously announced emote system. Following the update, players will be able to use 12 different emotes; PUBG Corp. says it will further expand the system with more emotes in the future.

Additionally, the developer has added 37 new Achievements on Steam. PUBG Corp. has also introduced a friends list; this is independent from your Steam friends list and allows you to add up to 50 other players as friends. You also now have the ability to voice chat with your teammates while in the main menu.

Beyond those new features, the update fixes a number of bugs, including one that would cause players to instantly die when vaulting or climbing. PUBG Corp. has also made further optimization changes to ensure the game runs more smoothly.

"With this patch, we are bringing various optimizations to our server and client," PUBG Corp. wrote in a post on Steam. "We have mitigated lag and stutter instances and alleviated frame drop and lag occurrences happening when players are pushed together, starting from the second half of a match, or in dynamic situations, like intense firefights. This has allowed for a smoother environment to play in, than before."

You can find the full patch notes for the update on Steam. PUBG creator Brendan Greene recently shared the development roadmap for the game, outlining some of the new features coming in the next few months. These include a new, smaller island map and improved animations.