PUBG Season 12 is right around the corner with another batch of updates

The next PUBG update is right around the corner and that means PUBG Season 12 is just one day away, now!

Season 12 promises to be another fantastic season of content for the iconic battle royale title and we have everything you need to know about what the PUBG team has cooked up for the latest update.

LATEST - Release Date Confirmed

When we say Season 12 is just around the corner, we mean it. The next PUBG Season is due to start on Wednesday, June 2nd. This means that we should be just over 24-hours away from the next update at the time of writing.

We're still waiting on confirmation of an exact release time for the update, but looking at previous updates has offered us some insight into when to expect it. We could see the update go live at 21:00 EST / 02:00 BST (June 3rd).

In the meantime, PUBG has also shared a new short story set in the ever-growing PUBG Universe. The Madman of Miramar is just one of these small snippets of narrative developments that the PUBG Team are using to build up the world around their battle royale game. Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Warzone all have very prevalent narratives in their titles and their success is obvious.

Miramar Map Changes

Miramar launched with PUBG 1.0 in 2017. It's been a staple location for many PUBG players, but it's been in dire need of a rework for a little while now. At long last, the team behind PUBG has buckled and now we're getting a nice new shiny map for Season 12.

" Throughout the map, we’ve focused on improving the overall visual quality (lighting especially) while also keeping a close eye on improving player interactions with the environment to improve your gameplay experience."

The development team behind the rework has stated that players should expect to see a smoother experience while playing with better cover options, less clutter, and key changes to points of interest.

Below, we've got a bullet-pointed list of everything that the PUBG team has stated they're working on.

• Terrain Updates
  • We have improved the visual fidelity of textures and materials across the map. Additional cliffs have been added for steep slopes, which clearly indicate areas that cannot be climbed easily.
• Cliff Updates
  • Cliffs have been improved across the map and now look much better overall.

• Foliage Updates
  • Trees, plants, and other foliage have received vast visual improvements.
• Lighting Updates
  • One goal of these lighting changes is to push a warmer, drier, and arid feel to help separate the feel and colour palette from other maps.
  • Plotted the sun’s arch and tweaked the lighting setups to represent different times of day better. We aimed to create a softer image with less contrast to help with eye strain while still ensuring longer distance engagements.
• Weather Changes
  • In the existing weather types: Sunny, Sunset, Sunrise, and Cloudy, the intensity and color have been adjusted. Sandstorm and Dusk will be introduced in Challenger Mode. Finally, improvements were made to the bunker and interior lighting.
• Building and Object Updates
  • Many buildings and objects across the map have received visual improvements.

• Map Flow
  • Reduced clutter across the map to improve ease of movement, especially around building entrances.

New Vehicle Dropping

Looking for ways you'll be able to make your way around this newly-revitalised Miramar? Well... PUBG has thought about all of that too!

The Quad is coming to PUBG as a Miramar map exclusive vehicle. Much like a Quadbike in real life, the Quad in PUBG is a two-seater offroad vehicle that offers a quicker way to get around at the cost of offering any real protection to the passengers.

Here are the stats and what we know so far:

• Seats: 2
• Health: 750
• Maximum Speed: 110 km/h (125 km/h at maximum boost)
• Maximum Range: 24.4 km (18.5 km at maximum boost)
• Only spawns on Miramar.
• Will be added to in Custom Matches and Training Mode in a future update.

The Anti-Material Rifle

PUBG is finally getting a .50 calibre rifle and it looks like a beast! The Lynx AMR is a hard-hitting Sniper Rifle that is more than capable of dealing damage to equipment, armour, vehicles and (of course) other players.

It's slower than your average Sniper Rifle and only offers you five shots, but it'll be worth picking up if you can get a good shot on an enemy squad.

Here's what we know so far:

• PUBG’s first .50 caliber weapon
• The Lynx AMR is first and foremost the best anti-vehicle sniper rifle in the game, capable of destroying BRDMs and even penetrating the windows to kill its occupants.
  • Capable of destroying weak vehicles like motorcycles in a single shot and most regular vehicles in two or three shots.
• Players have five shots only, with no way to reload.
• Spawns in Care Package only on Miramar in Normal Matches. In a future update, the Lynx will be added to Custom Matches and Training Mode

Ranked Season 12 Starts

As with any seasonal PUBG update, the next Ranked Season is kicking off.

If you're eligible for any of Season 11's rewards, you'll be able to get those as soon as you launch the game following the 12.1 Patch. As for Season12, all the Ranked Rewards are pretty standard.

• Bronze
  • Bronze PUBG ID Emblem
• Silver
  • Silver PUBG ID Emblem
• Gold
  • Gold PUBG ID Emblem
  • Ranked Parachute Skin
• Platinum
  • Animated Platinum PUBG ID Emblem
  • Ranked Parachute Skin
• Diamond
  • Animated Diamond PUBG ID Emblem
  • Ranked Parachute Skin
• Master
  • Animated Master PUBG ID Emblem
  • Animated Master Nameplate
  • Ranked Parachute Skin
• Top 500
  • Bonus rewards for Top 500 players:
    • Animated Top 500 PUBG ID Emblem
    • Animated Top 500 Nameplate

Looking at these rewards, they're nothing too extraordinary. The Parachute Skin is a permanent reward, but the other Emblems and Nameplate rewards are only "unlocked" for the duration of the Ranked Season after they're earned.

New Features A-Plenty

There are quite a few new features being added to PUBG in Season 12; They're not really to do with the gameplay though, so they shouldn't impact you too much, but they offer players more opportunities to explore the cosmetic offerings PUBG has available.

Weapon Skin Upgrades

You can now level up your weapon skins and better-customise them with new features and styles. The materials you'll need to upgrade and customise your weapons can be found in Contraband Crates (in-store and available with G-Coins), as well as in crates bought with BP and earned through community events (lower probability of earning materials).

Scrap Shop Details

Scrap is the material you need to upgrade your Weapon Skins and you can head here to figure all that out.

• View upgrade features for each level of the Upgradable Weapon Skins, and you can upgrade them by consuming your materials.
• Upgrading your Upgradable Weapon Skins
• Schematics and Polymer are required
• Upgrading will unlock features with each level-up. More schematics and polymers are required to upgrade to the next level.
• Salvage your Weapon Skins to earn materials for upgrades

Extra Features

There's also a "soccer ball" being added to the in-game lobby as another pre-game activity. Also, PUBG's bots have received a little bit of an upgrade. Their behaviour should be improved and their interactions with in-game cover and items (like grenades) have been improved.

Full Patch Notes?

There's a lot going on in PUBG's Season 12 update and listing the full Patch Notes would make this a very long section of the article. However, you can find our dedicated Patch Notes piece for PUBG version 12.1 here.

For now though, here are a few of the gameplay bug fixes that have been implemented in the latest update.

• Fixed the issue where bots weren’t able to attack players on motorcycles.
• Fixed an issue with bot DBNO bleed speed.
• Fixed the issue where bots won’t attack players for more than ten seconds.
• Fixed the issue where a different message is displayed after accepting “Continue with this team”.
• Fixed the issue where the camera’s up/down rotation angle is overly limited in some vehicles.
• Fixed the issue where the player perspective doesn’t return to default settings after using the Emergency Pickup.
• Fixed the issue where players are able to throw an item through a window without breaking it.
• Fixed the issue where the Helmet hiding feature is turned on as default.
• Fixed the issue of the Match Report lists showing non-squad members when the match is in progress.
• Fixed the issue of a DBNO player on a Dirt Bike remaining on the bike, still able to ride.
• Fixed the issue where the microphone could activate on death even when it isn’t activated in a Custom match.
• Fixed the issue where the character doesn’t hold their weapon as they get out of the vehicle in certain situations.
• Fixed the issue where a destroyed Motor Glider could cause the driver to be de-synced appear in a different location after landing.
• Fixed the issue where the Blue Zone was blocking the backpack and Emergency Pickup interaction.
• Fixed the issue where players were unable to eject from Emergency Pickup