PUBG goes free for the weekend on Xbox One, allowing people to play Fortnite competitor for no cost

The battle royale game has come under pressure from free competitors

A still from the online multiplayer game PUBG.

You can finally play PUBG for free.

But you'll have to be quick: you will have to pay again after this weekend.

The free days run from Friday until Sunday, for people playing on Xbox One and who have Xbox Live Gold. It can be downloaded by clicking on the gold member area on your Xbox or by searching for the game in the Microsoft store.

The decision comes as PlayUnknown's Battlegrounds, to give the game its full title, comes under increasing competition from free competitors. The game was the first of the now popular battle royale games – where players are dropped into an arena and battle to be the last person not to die – but has gradually been overtaken by similar games that don't charge.

The hugely popular Fortnite, for instance, takes many of the same mechanics but puts them in a slightly more cartoon-style world. Most importantly, the game is entirely free, and the game is gradually becoming more popular than its competitor as a result.

PUBG usually costs around £25, and can be bought for slightly cheaper on Amazon. The game is still relatively cheap because it is still in "Game Preview", meaning that it only has limited features, has not had all of its bugs fixed, and receives regular updates.

Developers promise that anyone playing through the free preview and then opting to buy it after will keep all of the progress they have made. The game allows players to collect in-game currency that can be swapped for clothes, and catalogues progress on a public leaderboard.

PUBG Corp also announced new DLC for the game, allowing people to pay $6.99 for new clothes. Those too will be carried over from the free weekend if people buy them and then get the full version later.

For long-time players, developers said they would have new updates to the roadmap and the roll-out of promised features, soon. That includes the Miramar desert app – which will be the game's second ever map – which will be released in May.