PUBG Battlegrounds is a battle royale game most players still play via Steam, even though it’s also available on Epic. However, many Steam players have encountered an initialization error when they start the game on Windows 11/10 PCs. A “Failed to initialize Steam” error message appears in the PUBG game during loading when that issue occurs. Consequently, the game never starts, and players must select to exit. This is how you can fix the PUBG “Failed to Initialize Steam” error on a Windows PC.
Read also: 7 Ways You Can Fix PUBG: Battlegrounds Not Launching on a Windows PC
End Steam Client Processes
First, try ending Steam client processes, which some players say can fix the “Failed to initialize Steam” error. This will close Steam background tasks, enabling you to force restart the gaming client. You can end the Steam client processes as follows.
- Click the taskbar with your mouse’s right button and select Task Manager.
- Select the Steam Client Bootstrapper process on the Processes tab and click End Task.
- Next, select Steam Client Service (32-bit) and click the End task button.
The Task Manager utility
- Start Steam again and select to run PUBG from there.
Verify the PUBG Battlegrounds Game
Running a verification scan for PUBG Battlegrounds might fix corrupted game files causing the “Failed to initialize Steam” error. Steam has a troubleshooting option you can select to repair (verify) files for PUBG and other games. This guide to verifying games page on the Steam website tells you how players can select that option.
The Verify integrity of game files option
Set Steam to Run With Administrator Rights
Make sure Steam has admin rights when running so it has full system access. You’ll need to set the client to always run with administrator privileges rather than select a context menu option for its shortcut. This is how you can configure the Steam client to run as an administrator.
- Use the Windows logo + E keyboard shortcut for accessing File Explorer to open the Steam installation folder, which will probably be in the Programs Files directory.
- Right-click the steam.exe file for running the game client and select Properties.
- Click Run this program as an administrator to select that checkbox within the Combability tab.
- Press Apply to set the selected administrator option.
- Click on OK to exit steam.exe Properties.
Disable Fullscreen Optimizations for the TslGame File
Some Battlegrounds players confirm disabling fullscreen optimizations for PUBG’s TslGame file has fixed the Battlegrounds “Failed to initialize Steam” error on their PCs. You can disable that setting for the TslGame file like this.
- Start the Steam gaming client to select Library on its tab bar.
- Right-click the PUBG Battlegrounds game to select a Properties context menu option.
- Click Local Files > Browse.
- Open the TslGame > Binaries > Win64 subfolder within the PUBG folder.
- Click the TslGame.exe file with your mouse’s right button and select its Properties option.
The Properties context menu option
- Select the checkbox for the Disable fullscreen optimizations option on the Compatibility tab.
The Compatibility tab
- Press the Apply and OK buttons to set the option and close the TslGame.exe window.
Reinstall Steam
Some players say they’ve fixed the PUBG Battlegrounds “Failed to initialize Steam” error by reinstalling Steam. Doing this will also uninstall games installed with Steam, which means you’ll need to reinstall PUBG. However, you can prevent games from being removed as covered on this uninstall page on the Steam site. That page also includes full guidelines for reinstalling the Steam client.
The Programs and Features Control Panel applet
The resolutions above are the most widely confirmed methods for fixing the PUBG Battlegrounds “Failed to initialize Steam” error on Windows PCs. However, remember that PUBG is also freely available on Epic Games. Thus, you could also try installing and launching the game via Epic Games Launcher if this issue persists.
