PUBG Mobile and world-renowned car manufacturer Maserati have announced a new partnership, bringing three of Maserati’s luxury sports cars into the game.

Two of the cars are the MC20 super sportscar and the Levante SUV. A third, mystery car is also included in the partnership as an unlockable bonus.

“We’re always looking to provide players with partnerships that enrich the PUBG MOBILE experience. With Maserati’s historic record of remaining at the forefront of their industry, they made the perfect partner for us to collaborate with,” said Tencent Games head of PUBG Mobile publishing Vincent Wang. “We’re thrilled to help bring together the worlds of automotive design and interactive gaming as the virtual world expands and becomes more crucial to the development of global technology as a whole.”

Driving into the future

Numerous brands have become increasingly concerned with cultivating a presence within the emerging metaverse, and taking advantage of the unique advertising opportunities offered in games. PUBG Mobile alone has already seen numerous collaborations with big names outside the games space, including K-pop band Blackpink and car manufacturers such as Dodge, McLaren and Koenigsegg Lamborghini. Such crossovers allow brands to bring their products to the attention of new audiences while establishing their presence within the digital world.

The fact that one of the cars included in the event is unannounced does raise an important question: why the secrecy? It’s possible, albeit unlikely, that this new car is still under development, in which case Maserati would be using the platform offered by PUBG mobile as part of its advertising campaign. This remains speculative at the moment, but would make for an interesting move, and yet another piece of evidence pointing to the remarkable advertising power of gaming.

The event runs from November 18th until December 31st.

Earlier this year, we listed PUBG Mobile co-developer Tencent as one of the top 50 mobile game makers of 2022.