PUBG is now officially PUBG: Battlegrounds for some reason

WTF?! PUBG publisher Krafton has decided it needs to distinguish PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds from other titles in the franchise. Out of the near infinite selection of ways to rebrand it, Krafton chose PUBG: Battlegrounds. Apparently, we should just ignore the redundancy here.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, more commonly known as PUBG, is getting a new name. The game's publisher Krafton decided sometime last month to change the name in Steam to PUBG: Battlegrounds. So, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds: Battlegrounds will now fall into a category of linguistic redundancies like ATM machine, PIN number, and LCD display---tautologies cutely referred to as RAS syndrome (redundant acronym syndrome syndrome).

Krafton felt a name change was necessary as it begins creating other PUBG branded titles.

"Krafton is actively expanding the PUBG brand through a variety of new experiences set in its universe," a spokesperson told PC Gamer. "Rebranding PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds to PUBG: Battlegrounds is the first step in us realizing this vision. Additional titles in the franchise will carry the PUBG name, as you see with our upcoming game, PUBG: New State."

The reasoning does make some sense, but why PUBG: Battlegrounds? What's wrong with PUBG: Battle Royale or PUBG: Drop Zone? PC Gamer asked Krafton why "Battlegrounds" and not something else, but the spokesperson would not elaborate.

As to the future of the PUBG brand, there is already PUBG Mobile 1.5: Ignition, more simply known as PUBG Mobile for iOS and Android. Krafton also has another mobile game in the works called PUBG: New State, which is just more of the same PUBG action in a slightly futuristic setting.

Krafton also has a survival horror game coming next year called The Callisto Protocol (trailer above). It is set on one of the moons of Jupiter, but is within the PUBG universe and lore. Glen Schofield, the creator of Dead Space, is heading up the project under his new development house Striking Distance Studios. It is unclear if Krafton intends to change the name to PUBG: The Callisto Protocol. Perhaps it will call it PUBG: The TCP Protocol.

Of course, players will probably still call PUBG: Battlegrounds, "PUBG," while referring to newer games by their post-colon title (New State). So the name change is not likely to make that much difference among fans.