PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds runs at native 4K on Xbox One X, suffers from performance issues

By Asher Madan
last updated

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) launched on Xbox One and Xbox One X today, but many gamers are expressing concern over its horrendous performance on Microsoft's consoles.

Whenever a new game comes out, players want to know about its frame rate and resolution, especially on Xbox One X. According to Digital Foundry, the Xbox One version manages to achieve 1080p resolution and the Xbox One X version renders at native 4K. Both systems try to achieve 30 FPS but fail to do so. Despite the difference in resolution, both versions suffer from significant frame rate problems at random points in time.

Analysis by Digital Foundry stated the following. It's clear that the game needs a tremendous amount on work before the average gamer can enjoy it.

PUBG is indeed enhanced for Xbox One X... the improvements are substantial. First of all, native rendering resolution jumps from 1080p up to full 4K. Secondly, texture detail gets a significant upgrade... it's clearly a massive upgrade compared to what's served up for base Xbox users. Additionally, foliage draw distance also gets a big, big boost on Microsoft's 4K console... By and large, performance is also better and when both consoles drop beneath the 30fps threshold, we've noted a delta of between five to 10 frames per second in like-for-like scenes. But again, there's no real consistency in the performance differential and one area we tested did show a small advantage running on the base Xbox One.

Hopefully Bluehole will patch PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds quickly so at least the frame rate doesn't drop into the teens. However, that's not the only problem. The game suffers from texture pop-in and other visual artifacts which need to be addressed. Despite its strong and addictive gameplay, playing PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is a jarring experience due to the frame rate problems.

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Asher Madan
Asher Madan

Asher Madan handles gaming news for Windows Central. Before joining Windows Central in 2017, Asher worked for a number of different gaming outlets. He has a background in medical science and is passionate about all forms of entertainment, cooking, and antiquing.

26 Comments
  • Looked plain nasty at times.
  • This is a huge mistake. There's no way 4K should have been a priority this early on. A better frame rate should have been top priority. Like...at least a steady 30FPS would be a start.
  • This was my assessment as well. I played it yesterday on the One X and I would have traded the resolution for more frames. It's a game preview so I'm not ready to pitch a giant fit, but it is something that needs to be addressed. Control customization is the other big issue I have with the game. The premise is brilliant though so I'm hoping they step things up.
  • My big issue is it feels like a marketing decision rather than a game developer decision. There's been so much hype about this and the whole "Xbox One X enhanced" stuff. My PC has a 1080Ti in it and I wouldn't play this game at 4K because it's just not ready for it.
  • I can't believe how poorly this game runs, even being a Game Preview.  My kids are having a blast but I can't begin to imagine what would have me playing it over the virtually free Fortnite.  It's a shame this game got shoehorned into the holiday release schedule along with being in the "Xbox One X Enhanced" category.  This appears to have seriously held it back in terms of performance to hit 4k instead of a little more stability.  It'll be a shame to see the negative publicity and flames this game receives.
  • Guys, it's a game preview, a beta, like you know, Windows insider builds and stuff. Recently, I sometimes feel that negative backlash is the new normal from so-called 'gamers' to the point that they may scare developers from trying anything new, ambitious or risky - better to stick with whatever worked before, then we complain there are no new games blah, blah. Can we give it some time without declaring 'huge mistake' or 'marketing decisions' and totally trashing all the effort that has gone into development so far while it's still a preview?? Yes it's not perfect, and it may even be a 'poor' decision, but I give them kudos for aiming high with the X, attempt the 4K - big deal if it doesn't work out perfectly at first, so what?? Let's just chill out a bit guys.
  • It’s day one release of a Game Preview. This is not the official release and the whole point of Game Preview games is to test and work out kinks. So how is anything a huge mistake yet ?
  • Game Previews are different things to different developers.  Sometimes to iron out issues, other times (and most times) to collect funds from consumers while they add new content, etc. In this case, we have one of the largest game releases in years marketed by Microsoft (with "white-glove treatment from Microsoft helping in the port) as a system seller and treated as a first-pary for the most powerful gaming console ever released....and it runs like total ass!
  • Because it costs 30 bucks and they went for "ZOMG 4K" over making it more playable. Probably not their fault, likely Microsoft's marketing team and their money that made the call. But still. 720p at 60FPS would be a more fun start than 4K at just above 20.
  • The problem is probably the CPU so 4K was probably the best choice.
  • I think it's necessary to make note it's in "GAME PREVIEW" so I'm sure they're working diligently on fixing the FPS issue
  • That was exactly what I was thinking when I saw the title of this story. Not sure why the auther was treating this like a triple a game that was just released
  • Give it time. They should aim high, and try to reach it.
  • Correct me if I'm wrong, the developer has limited resources(small team) working on this, even for PC which is why it's taking so long on any platform...
  • Maybe they should hire more people.
  • Microsoft should just buy them outright....like Bungie back in the day.
  • Sold 20 million copies on PC alone at 30 bucks this year. And no, Bluehole isn't a small developer. And they have a ton of money available to hire more resources.
  • 20million sold and the game is still in early access on PC?
    Devine, what the hell are you talking about?
  • ... And they obviously aren't spending the cash on resources that can better optimize this early preview version of the game.
  • Uh, you have to pay for the Early Access release of this game, it isn't free. And it's $29.99 to get it. 20 million people are in the early access release, hence 20 million copies sold.
  • This is awful. Bluehole and optimization do not work well together.
  • It's still fun as all hell tho.
  • My son and I were playing last night.  It is great fun and, once you get into the game and away from the lobby, it looks great, especially on the X.  However, I died more than once due to lag and shoddy framerates.  I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt due to the Game Preview thing, but there is serious work still to be done here. But, yeah, when its playable, its huge fun.  The vehicles alone set it head and shoulders above Fortnite Battle Royale.
  • It's a preview of the game...they'll release updates.
  • I rather have 1080p and steady frame rate than any 4k visuals. Will stay on PC for now, until they fix this mess
  • There was so much marketing around this unfinised game. I could see a lot of casuals buying this thinking it was a full release and feeling disappointed.  IMO focussing on resolution over framerate is a mistake. I know some people like the author of this article will hype the "native 4K" but imo the focus should have been on a steady framerate... I don't know if they did this just because MS's focus is more about resolution than framerate.