PUBG Corp. Disables Personal Trading of Skins and Items in Surprise Move
Personal trading has been temporarily disabled in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds as PUBG Corp. has decided to resort to extreme measures to tackle third-party sites.
One of the biggest issues that CS:GO had to deal with in recent years was keeping the selling and trading of skins regulated as gambling sites, third-party selling sites, and more sprung up everywhere.
Now it looks like PUBG is having to deal with the same issues as a lucrative new market for skins, loot boxes, and items has emerged with third-party sites making up a sizable percentage of that market.
The issue with these third-party sites is they are often in violation of Steam’s trading rules as people can receive real money for the items that they earn in game; not to mention the fact that there are often scams or unscrupulous actions going on behind the scenes.
Tired of allowing these sites to continue cashing in on their in-game items, PUBG Corp. has made the surprising decision to disable all personal trading for the time being while they search for a better solution.
In an official statement, the developers made it clear that they see trading through third-party sites as a way of abusing the system and said that they hope players understand their decision.
“Starting today, we’re going to temporarily turn off access to “personal trades” for all PUBG items.
Some context: Normally, players can trade items using either the “Market trade” or “Personal trade” features. “Market trade” lets you sell items through the Steam market system. “Personal trade’” is supposed to allow friends to trade items without any costs attached.
Recently, though, we’ve seen a few cases of players using the personal trade function to sell items using third party sites. This is essentially an abuse of the system. To prevent this, we’re temporarily turning off personal trades while we search for a better solution. Once we figure out a way to prevent abuse, the restriction will be lifted.
Thanks for reading, and we hope you understand!”
While the values of the rarest PUBG items are currently nowhere close to the astronomical prices that some CS:GO skins sell for, it still isn’t rare to see a PUBG skin sell for upwards of $100 on the sites like OPSkins.
Clearly this approach is far from a long term solution for PUBG Corp. but it shows that they are far more serious about tackling some of the issues linked to the sale of in-game items than most other developers.
While some members of the community have expressed concerns about the decision punishing the majority in order to stop a minority, others have said that they see it as a necessary evil.