Mobile esports fans are delighted as Tencent Games has announced the release of PUBG Mobile 120 FPS support. The company dropped this news as part of the massive mobile shooter’s sixth-anniversary celebrations.
Krafton and Tencent’s PUBG Mobile is one of the most successful free mobile games on the market currently among both casual and competitive players, but its esports scene has shown immense growth over the past few years and it’s clear that PUBG Mobile’s esports 2024 roadmap is central to the developers’ focus this year. They revealed the news on the game’s official Twitter account, letting us know to expect support for 120 FPS gameplay in Version 3.2.
There’s very little information available at the moment about the specifics of this support, with PUBG Mobile telling us to “Stay tuned for more information and device compatibility”. Such a bare-bones announcement upwards of a month away from the version’s release falls out of PUBG Mobile’s usual marketing cycle, so much so that Wasif Ahmed writing for esports.net hypothesizes that “the current announcement seems like a reaction to the release of Warzone Mobile, which actually supports 120 FPS.” Either way, it’s good news for fans of smooth frame rates.
What’s the big deal about 120 FPS gameplay anyway? Most mobile games currently run at somewhere between 30 to 60 frames-per-second (FPS) which is more than enough for a game’s animations to run smoothly on your standard smartphone. However, FPS games (the acronym stands for first-person shooter here) traditionally call for higher frame rates, especially in competitive settings, as smoother animations allow for more accurate aim and weapon control. That’s why the frame-rate jump is particularly exciting for PUBG Mobile esports players.
According to this handy explainer from Nvidia, while higher frame rates generally mean you’ll perform better, your frame rate has to match your device’s refresh rate. Setting your game to 120 FPS when you only have a 60Hz monitor doesn’t change a thing, as your monitor can’t keep up. Now that all the best gaming phone manufacturers are using 120Hz or higher displays, games like PUBG Mobile and Warzone Mobile can take full advantage of the higher frame rate to deliver a more accurate FPS experience to players.
PUBG Mobile 120 FPS support release date speculation
Given that the most recent version 3.1 PUBG Mobile update went live on March 12, 2024, after a two-month-long version 3.0, we suspect that version 3.2 and support for 120 FPS gameplay will drop in early May of 2024. We’ll be sure to keep you up to date as we learn more about the upcoming patch.
That’s everything we know so far about PUBG Mobile’s 120 FPS support. If you want to learn more about its newly-released competitor, check out our Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile interview with Activision’s Chris Plummer and our guides to Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile’s guns and Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile’s ranks. Alternatively, read about another new smartphone with a 120Hz display in our Honor Magic6 Pro review.