PUBG: Black Budget Canceled, Joining Live-Service Graveyard

PUBG publisher Krafton has pulled the plug on its extraction shooter spin-off PUBG: Black Budget. Announced less than a year ago and already through several closed alpha tests, the publisher's reasoning for the cancellation is simple: it believes Black Budget simply wasn't fun enough to keep potential players engaged.

"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," Krafton wrote in a Steam update. "We have therefore made the difficult decision to end development of PUBG: Black Budget. PUBG Studios will carry what we learned from development and testing into future projects, continuing to listen to players as we explore new gameplay experiences."

Black Budget is the second PUBG spin-off to get the axe, following the demise of the tactical shooter PUBG: Blindspot in March. …