How map swaps affect PUBG
Every esports title needs a shake-up once in a while—and for PUBG, that shake-up comes in the form of rotating maps. When the map pool changes, players need to adapt their strategies to the new locations and meta. Different game modes in PUBG rotate maps at different times, but the only constant is change.
Why rotate maps?
PUBG (and other map-based games such as CS2) rotates maps often to prevent the game from “drying out”, and to keep the meta fresh. Playing the same four or five maps all over again can end up being stale even for professional players, so the creators of these games tend to remove maps (or a single map) from the competitive pool and replace it with others. In the case of PUBG, maps are rotated more often for normal and ranked modes, and less often for the official esports leagues and competitions, such as the PUBG Global Series and PUBG Global Championship.
In the last map rotation, Vikendi and Sanhok were added back to the normal and ranked PC rotation, replacing Taego and Deston. The maps at the moment are Vikendi, Sanhok, Erangel, Rondo and Miramar, and will remain so during the next week.
The Adjustment Period
Regadless of experience, players need to adapt to new maps as they come, and this means that the first couple of days of every map rotation tend to be very interesting. PUBG pros and higher-level ranked players know all maps by heart, but even they need to adapt a bit to the rotation, in case a map comes up that was dormant for a couple weeks. Historically, teams that adapted the fastest to the map rotations are the ones with the best performances, which brings a layer of strategy on top of the usual PUBG madness that follows every game.
Other Games, Same Problem
Map rotation issues aren’t unique to PUBG; similar challenges appear in CS2, Valorant, and other games. They are perhaps most-known in CS2, where every change in the competitive map pool is heavily commented and praised (or criticised). Interestingly, in CS2, most maps get reworked often, and the return of a map to the so-called “active duty pool” is often a celebration of a new style. The last major update to the CS2 pool happened early this year when Train returned and Vertigo was removed. Map changes are a much-needed breath of fresh air to competitive games, and are often polarising, but games would not be the same without them.
To find out how our PUBG pros adapted to the recent map pool changes, make sure to follow the action during the PUBG playoffs this weekend!
