Netflix Officially Confirms PUBG TV Adaptation in the Works

Published Oct 29, 2026, 2:25 PM EDT Michael McWhertor is a New York-based journalist and editor with more than 20 years of experience covering games, industry events, technology, movies, and TV. Winner winner chicken dinner incoming Netflix scores PUBG live-action series with Donald Glover Photo: Amazon Sign in to your Polygon.com account Netflix has a long history of video game adaptations with series like Arcane, Castlevania, Resident Evil, and the upcoming Assassin's Creed live-action show, but the streaming service's latest project is a big surprise. Krafton and Netflix announced Thursday that PUBG, the enduring game that popularized the battle royale genre, is in development as a live-action television series for Netflix. Equally surprising is who is leading that adaptation: Donald Glover (Atlanta, Community) will direct, write, executive produce, and star in the PUBG series. Stephen Glover, whose writing credits include Atlanta, Swarm, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, will join as a writer and executive producer. Joining the Glover brothers as executive producers on PUBG are Michael Schaefer for Neon TV, Fam Udeorji for Gilga, and Taeseok Jang and Sujin Lee for LV3H, Krafton's entertainment division. PUBG is the overarching brand for Krafton's shooter franchise, which launched in 2017 with PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), the battle royale shooter that has since been renamed PUBG: Battlegrounds. South Korea-based Krafton continues to expand the franchise with spinoffs like extraction shooter PUBG: Black Budget and roguelite PUBG: DED.NET, though development on the former has since been canceled. PUBG is still a global phenomenon a decade later Image: Krafton PUBG: Battlegrounds has retained a massive player base over the past nine years. In a typical month, the battle royale game averages more than 300,000 concurrent players on Steam alone. This year, the game's Steam concurrents peaked at 1.29 million, years after reaching an all-time peak of more than 3.2 million players. PUBG: Battlegrounds' breakout success is responsible for Fortnite we know today. Developer Epic Games unabashedly cribbed from PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds for its own battle royale mode. PUBG joins a growing slate of video game adaptations at Netflix, including the live-action Assassin's Creed series; a live-action Gears of War movie; animated series based on Minecraft, Magic: The Gathering, and Clash of Clans; and an Overcooked-inspired competition series. Netflix is also developing additional seasons of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, and Devil May Cry. Netflix also has a slate of projects coming with Sega, including a film adaptation of Crazy Taxi. Krafton and Netflix did not announce a release date for PUBG, but it certainly sounds like the show's production suggests we're never getting that stand-alone Lando Calrissian Star Wars series the Glovers have been working on with Lucasfilm.