KRAFTON is launching Ally Duo, a new Arcade mode for PUBG: Battlegrounds,which lets players play with an AI powered NVIDIA bot, capable of taking orders and asking for items, to duo with.
PUBG Battlegrounds gets Ally Duo in latest patch notes
The mode, which launches June 17th, pairs players with an AI character called Ella, built on KRAFTON’s PUBG Ally technology. Rather than a traditional NPC with fixed responses, Ella processes voice commands and in-game situations simultaneously to respond in real time, covering movement, item collection and strategy.
Players talk to her, she listens, and reacts accordingly. For fast-twitch actions like looting and repositioning, the system is designed for minimal latency, while more complex decisions like strategy calls are handled with broader context from the ongoing match.
Krafton previously demonstrated the technology 7 months ago on YouTube and included it in the PUBG patch notes that recently dropped. It’s old, but it gives you an idea of what it is capable of.
Under the hood, PUBG Ally runs on an on-device small language model powered by NVIDIA ACE, using speech-to-text and text-to-speech to keep the interaction feeling natural. It’s a Co-Playable Character, or CPC, rather than an NPC. It’s Krafton’s way of saying this is an AP NPC, but it’s more immersive to engage with as it’s more like a teammate than a traditional bot.
The beta runs globally for two weeks, from June 17th to July 1st, and supports voice interaction in Korean, Chinese and English.
Kangwook Lee, Chief AI Officer at KRAFTON, described it as an early step, saying the company is keen to gather player feedback during the beta period to keep refining the experience. Head of PUBG Development SangKyun Kim also pointed to wider creative potential, suggesting Ally could open up new gameplay types, interactions and storytelling moments for players down the line.
It sits within a broader AI push from KRAFTON. The company unveiled four multimodal AI models under its Raon brand family back in April, with plans to fine-tune those models for individual games going forward. Ally Duo looks like the first real-world test of where that’s heading.
Authored by
Craig Robinson
Craig Robinson is an experienced gaming and esports writer with nearly a decade of coverage experience since 2015. With a background in software engineering, he combines his journalistic expertise with a strong understanding of technical SEO and web development fundamentals. He’s passionate about covering MMO games, competitive esports, and crafting guides that help players get the most out of their favorite titles.
He's been writing about gaming and esports for over 10 years, which started as for fun project during university. He has since developed his skill set, contributing to newsrooms coverage of key games and event, and blending evergreen content strategy and a solid grasp of content marketing fundamentals. His work has appeared in Esports News UK, Gamer Guides, theEscpaist, and VideoGamer, and he now contributes to Gamehub's review team. When he’s not writing, Craig can usually be found running, at the gym, or tinkering with coding projects to keep his GitHub active.
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