Video game publisher Krafton announced on Thursday it is ending development on PUBG: Black Budget, an extraction shooter spinoff of its popular PUBG franchise.
The Subnautica studio shared the news on PUBG: Black Budget‘s Steam page, adding that the project’s “current direction” would prohibit the brand from creating a game players would enjoy long-term.
The announcement comes one day after Krafton canceled 86 billion South Korean won (around $63 million) worth of its own shares as part of the brand’s “shareholder return program.”
Announced in February as part of the company’s “largest Shareholder Return Program” ever, the deal will return at least 1 trillion won to shareholders through 2028.
Read the studio’s full message:
After reviewing the project’s development status and future direction, we concluded that its current direction would not allow us to deliver an experience players could enjoy over the long term.
We have therefore made the difficult decision to end development of PUBG: Black Budget.
We sincerely thank everyone who took the time to participate in our Closed Alpha tests and share their feedback.
PUBG STUDIOS will carry what we learned from development and testing into future projects, continuing to listen to players as we explore new gameplay experiences.
Thank you.
PUBG: Black Budget, a “tactical extraction shooter built around tension, survival, and the unknown,” was poised to be the franchise’s new focus. Gameplay sends players, or “Contractors,” on a special mission to an island “on the edge of the world.” Here, they’ll locate and extract top-secret tech from an abandoned facility.
This island, however, is stuck in a merciless time loop thanks to a supernatural phenomenon called “the Anomaly.”
Despite studio hype, the PvPvE shooter didn’t last a year after its announcement. PUBG: Black Budget was first revealed in November — just nine months ago — with two playtests in December 2025 and June 2026, respectively. Development reportedly began back in 2023.
PUBG: Black Budget is the second franchise offshoot Krafton has canceled since the start of the year. The brand ended development on its top-down 5v5 title, PUBG: Blindspot, back in March. The project spent just two months in Steam Early Access.
PUBG: Ded.Net, Krafton and PUBG Madison’s upcoming retro-inspired roguelike shooter, was just revealed in August. According to its Steam listing, Ded.Net “combines shooter gameplay with roguelite progression across runs, giving players new ways to experiment, adapt and build their own approach in the strange and unpredictable world of 1990’s Cascadia.”
PUBG: Ded.Net does not have a release date yet, but players interested in following its development or joining playtests can pre-register for the closed beta waitlist with their Krafton player accounts.
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