People Can Fly makes a new PUBG mode: Dawnbreakers of Rondo starts on Wednesday

Polish studio People Can Fly has made a new mode for PUBG: Battlegrounds. "SLB: Dawnbreakers of Rondo" is a co-op PvE mode and the fourth instalment of the Survivors Left Behind series. People Can Fly created it together with PUBG Studios, part of South Korea's KRAFTON. The news was reported by BiznesRadar, citing a PCF announcement.

How the mode works

PUBG: Battlegrounds is one of the games that popularised battle royale, a genre in which players fight each other until only one player or team is left standing. Dawnbreakers of Rondo turns that rule on its head. It is a PvE mode, in which players do not compete against each other but cooperate against enemies controlled by the game. Their task is to survive night-time attacks by hordes of monsters called "Hungers" across six locations on the Rondo map. Night-time settings and wave after wave of enemies are classic survival-game ingredients, and in a mode like this, teamwork matters most. It is a chance for people who are not keen on fighting other players to try PUBG in a different, team-based format.

When to play

The mode is available for a limited time only. On PC it starts on Wednesday, 14 October, and runs until 4 November. Console players get it a little later, from 22 October to 12 November. That gives anyone who wants to try it roughly three weeks on each platform, and console players can keep playing for eight days after the PC event ends. It is not known whether the mode will come back later.

What the developers say

"We are very happy to continue working with our friends at PUBG STUDIOS," says Joanna Strzelecka-Tazbir of People Can Fly. The reference to continuing the partnership suggests this is not the two companies' first joint project. Valerian Noghin of PCF adds: "We had to stay true to the game's original vision and keep its proven mechanics." That can be read as a sign that the new threats are meant to work within rules PUBG fans already know, rather than turn the game upside down.

What it means for PCF

People Can Fly is one of Poland's biggest studios, known for Painkiller, Bulletstorm and Outriders. For the Polish industry, it is another example of a home-grown studio working on one of the world's most popular online games. The company is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, so investors follow deals like this one too. However, the studio has not disclosed the value of the KRAFTON contract or how the mode will affect its results. The available information also makes no mention of a stock-exchange filing on the matter. Any conclusions will have to wait until the mode goes live and players react. An important signal will be how many people it attracts in the first few days, and whether the Survivors Left Behind series gets further instalments.