PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has a breakthrough control scheme

Microsoft and The PUBG Corporation released PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on the Xbox One today, and the unfinished last-player-standing shooter, which is available for $30 in the Game Preview program, needs a lot of performance optimization. But one area that the designers have already figured out is how to control this complex game with a joypad. The button layout enables players to do a stunning number of actions, and it is a leap forward for console shooters.

People will struggle to figure out how to do some very basic things in PUBG on Xbox One when they first start it, but that’s because it is deviates from other shooters, like Call of Duty. It also uses a smartphone-like concept of quick taps and long holds to enable each gamepad button to handle multiple functions — this even includes the triggers and D-pad.