Krafton has ended development of PUBG: Black Budget, the extraction shooter spin-off it had positioned as the next major entry in the PUBG series. The publisher announced the decision on the game's Steam page, saying it followed an internal review of the project's status and direction.
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.
Krafton thanked the players who took part in the game's closed alpha tests and said PUBG Studios would carry what it learned from development and testing into future projects.
Black Budget was first revealed in November 2025 as a PvEvP first-person shooter that blended extraction shooter mechanics with elements of the battle royale games the series is built on. It was set on an island caught in a time loop, where shifting weather and other anomalies were meant to make each match play differently. Eurogamer reported that the project had been in development for years, having first surfaced in a 2023 Krafton financial report before the publisher said later that year that it was aiming for a release in the second half of 2024.
Several closed tests ran before the cancellation, the largest of them in June. Polygon noted that the game remains listed on Steam for wishlisting, and Krafton's post gave no indication of what the team will work on next.
Black Budget is the second PUBG spin-off Krafton has publicly cancelled. PUBG: Blindspot, a 5v5 top-down tactical shooter, was cancelled in March after two months in early access.
The remaining PUBG spin-off in development is PUBG: Ded.Net, announced at Gamescom in August. Built by Krafton's studio in Madison, Wisconsin, it is a multiplayer shooter with an 1980s aesthetic and roguelite elements.
