The PUBG universe has expanded through a partnership with digital comic publisher WEBTOON, where three new webcomics have been published exclusively on Webtoon. On Jan. 29, WEBTOON released three original comics that take place within the PUBG universe called The Retreats, Night of Silence, and 100. To further ensure that the PUBG universe translates smoothly onto the webcomic platform, WEBTOON has also partnered with YLAB comics, a Korean webcomic production company. Through YLAB, some familiar and well-known creators who have had their own works published on WEBTOON are also participating in the collaboration.
PUBG’s partnership with WEBTOON follows Krafton CEO Changhan Kim’s plans to grow the company using the PUBG IP as starting point. To further expand the PUBG franchise, Kim stated that “Krafton will create different types of content (e.g., webtoons, tv dramas, movies, esports events, etc.).”
The three webcomics first launched exclusively for South Korean readers in November 2021 on WEBTOON’s Korean platform called NAVER WEBTOON, where the three series were met with great success. As a result, WEBTOON has translated the comics into English and made them available for English fans and readers.
The Retreats is an action comic with author Hyungwook Shin and artist Sunhee Kim named as the creators. The comic takes place in the distant future, where people live abundantly in the Retreats, which many consider Paradise on Earth. However, the luxury of the Retreats was created at the expense of an impoverished underclass community called the Brine. Residents living in the Brine only have two options for survival: either serving the Retreats’ citizens or fighting in the Battlegrounds to get a chance to join the Retreats. The series follows John Canty, a Brine resident whose father and grandfather died in the Battlegrounds and finds becoming a Retreats citizen to be hopeless until his new job located in the Retreats, where he meets a boy named Edward who looks exactly like his own son Gable.
Night of Silence is a thriller and murder mystery comic with author Dongwoo Han and artist Q-Ha named as the creators. The comic follows Leah as she returns to her small hometown after five years and discovers that her father has died. The police rule her father’s death as a suicide despite the evidence, making Leah determined to find the truth. Amid everything, Leah learns that her father was writing a book called Battlegrounds with some of its pages missing. However, the townspeople prevent Leah from investigating her father’s death and will do anything to stop her from learning the truth.
100 is an action comic with author Hyeong Eun and artist Yunyeol Choi named as the creators. The comic follows Hoyoung Cheon on his mission to survive Battlegrounds: a battle-royale style game with 100 participants, where the only way to win is to eliminate the other 99 players, who all happen to be death-row convicts. Along with surviving, Hoyoung must also find an assemblyman who was captured while investigating the game and is now a participant against his will.
When new comics licensed by WEBTOON are released, known as WEBTOON Originals, they usually publish three episodes on their launch day. From there, comics will start following a weekly schedule and will post one episode per week. Currently, all three PUBG comics already have three episodes released for their respective titles and will all update once a week on Sundays starting next week.