PUBG’s AI Opponents Boost Friend Team-Ups by 28%

PUBG: Battlegrounds, launched in 2017, has faced a familiar challenge for mature multiplayer games: new users can be driven away by repeated losses to experienced rivals. A study by researchers at George Mason University, The Ohio State University and the University of Florida suggests carefully calibrated computer-controlled opponents can reverse that dynamic by helping less experienced players build self-efficacy. The findings challenge the assumption that AI necessarily isolates people, showing it can instead catalyze human interaction when deployed with deliberate design choices.

Since 2020, PUBG has introduced AI-controlled opponents into some matches. The bots were tuned slightly below average human skill and were not individually labeled, making them difficult to distinguish from people. The study by Zhechao Yang, Qili Wang and Liangfei Qiu was published online on June 30, 2026, in INFORMS’ Information Systems Research. It found average play time rose about 50% after the change, while play with friends increased 28%, with the strongest gains among novices and players who had previously preferred random teammates.