https://www.polygon.com/2018/4/16/17243216/playerunknown-pubg-red-zone-get-good

Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene knows that player feedback about PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds doesn’t always match up with the data the team sees on the servers, but it’s important to pay attention to what the community talks about. There’s at least one area where he disagrees with the haters, though, and that’s the topic of the red zone.

The red zone is a marked area on the map that is bombed from above. If you’re not in a building when a bomb hits you, you’re dead. If you know how to avoid the red zone or stay within the structures, you’ll find yourself in an area where almost no one can hear what you’re doing. Which is kind of the point.