The only way into a PUBG: Black Budget test is the Request Access button on the official Steam page, and no test is currently running. Access is free, selection is at KRAFTON's discretion rather than first-come, and there is no key to buy — anyone selling one is selling nothing. The steps below are what worked for the three tests run so far.
How do you request playtest access?
- 01Open the official Steam pageSign in to the Steam account you want to use for the test. Access is tied to the account that makes the request, so use your main one if that is where you would actually play.
- 02Select “Request Access”The button appears on the Steam store page when a test is open for registration. Steam records the request against your account — there is no form to fill in and nothing to pay.
- 03Check Steam and your account emailPrevious tests delivered acceptance through Steam itself and the email attached to the account. Accepted players find the game in their Steam library; no key needs to be redeemed.
- 04Wait for an official test scheduleRequesting access does not guarantee selection, and no future date is real until it appears in an official KRAFTON or Steam announcement.
- Cost
- Free
- Guaranteed access
- No — selection is not automatic
- Current test date
- No future date announced
- Platform
- PC (Steam)
- Purchasable keys
- None exist
- Tests run so far
- 3
Does requesting access guarantee a place?
No. Requesting puts you in a pool; KRAFTON decides how many accounts to admit and when. The June 2026 alpha admitted players on a rolling, region-by-region basis and later granted additional access after demand exceeded the initial allocation — so a request that goes quiet for a few days has not necessarily been declined.
Selection criteria have never been published in full. The April 2026 EU test stated that priority went to players experienced with extraction shooters and to prior test participants, which is the only concrete signal on record. Whether the same weighting applies to larger alphas is unknown.
Can a friend invite you to a test?
Sometimes. During the June 2026 alpha, accepted players could invite up to two Steam friends, provided the friendship was at least 30 days old. PUBG Studios noted the invite feature might be disabled if servers came under strain, so it was a genuine but not guaranteed route.
The 30-day requirement matters: adding someone the day a test opens will not work. If you want this option available for the next test, the friend list needs to already exist before the announcement.
What have past tests actually involved?
Three tests have run, and they were not equivalent experiences — one was invitation-only and NDA-bound, the other two were open to streaming.
- Closed Alpha Test 1
- December 12–14 and December 19–21, 2025 (two 3-day windows) · North America, Europe, East Asia · No NDA — streaming permitted
- EU Closed Test
- April 22–24, 2026 (17:00–23:00 CEST daily) · Europe · Under NDA — no streaming or sharing
- Closed Alpha Test 2
- Friday June 26 – Monday June 29, 2026 · North America, Europe, East Asia · No NDA — streaming permitted
The NDA distinction is worth understanding before you apply. An NDA-bound test means you may not stream, capture or discuss what you played — the April 2026 EU test worked this way, which is why no public footage of it exists. NDA-free alphas allowed participants to stream freely. Full detail on playtest history.
Expect progress to be temporary. When the June 2026 alpha closed, all inventories, extracted items, character levels and currency were wiped. Alpha progress is test data, not a head start.
Can your PC actually run it?
Worth checking before a test opens rather than during one. The current minimum specification asks for Windows 11, Intel Core i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 5 2600, 16 GB of RAM, a NVIDIA RTX 2060 8GB / AMD Radeon RX 6600 and 30 GB of storage. Note the Windows 11 requirement — this was Windows 10 at the November 2025 reveal and has since been raised.
Both tiers in full, including how the requirements changed after reveal, are on platforms and requirements.
How to avoid fake keys and scams
There is no purchasable version of PUBG: Black Budget. No key sellers, no marketplace listings, no “alpha access bundles” are legitimate, because KRAFTON has never issued a key that can be resold — access is granted to a Steam account directly and appears in that account's library.
Two other patterns worth ignoring: sites offering guaranteed access in exchange for signing in with Steam credentials, and Discord invites promising early builds. Both are credential harvesting. The only legitimate route runs through the Steam store page itself.
When is the next test?
Unannounced. Three tests have run — December 2025, April 2026 and June 2026 — and KRAFTON has not signalled a fourth. That cadence suggests more testing rather than an imminent launch, but it is a pattern, not a schedule.
Announcements land on the Steam page and KRAFTON's press channels first. We mirror them in the news feed, and track launch status on the release date page. Neither will carry a rumoured test date.
Source: Official PUBG: Black Budget Steam page · verified 2026-07-31