The South Korean studio PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS continues to experiment with artificial intelligence. Starting June 17, 2026, KRAFTON opens the global beta of Ally Duo, a new Arcade mode that introduces an AI-controlled partner directly into the game.
In this new mode, you no longer line up in a classic squad: you will form a team of twocomposed of a human player and an AI companion named Ella. Everything takes place on the map Sanhokknown for its fast-paced clashes and nervous pacing.
The objective is simple: survive and win, but with a new cooperative dimension. She can be guided by voice commandsallowing players to ask him to move, loot or even adapt a strategy in real time.
An AI designed to play “like a teammate”
Derrière She caches PUBG Allyan AI companion technology developed by KRAFTON. This is a co-playable character (CPC) designed to evolve alongside human players, and not as a simple bot.
The system is based on:
- an integrated lightweight linguistic model,
- technology NVIDIA ACE,
- speech recognition (STT) and speech synthesis (TTS) systems.
Unlike traditional NPCs, PUBG Ally analyzes both voice commands and the in-game situation to react dynamically. Certain simple actions (loot, movement) are executed almost instantly, while more complex decisions (positioning, strategy) take into account the overall context of the game.
A desire to experiment on the gameplay side
For KRAFTON, this mode is above all a field of experimentation.
“Ally Duo is a first step in exploring how AI companions can create new ways to play,” says Kangwook Lee, Director of AI at KRAFTON. The studio wants to adjust and improve the system thanks to player feedback during the beta.
From son côté, SangKyun Kim, head of PUBG developmentsees in this technology an opportunity to renew gaming experiences: new interactions, new narrative moments and potentially new types of content created around the game.
A time-limited global beta
La bêta d’Ally Duo will be accessible from June 17 to July 1, 2026or two weeks of testing on a global scale. It will be available in language Korean, Chinese and English. For your part, are you going to try the beta? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments onGeekNPlay or on social networks Facebook andX (formerly Twitter).
