PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has made US$500 million since its release. Its huge success has led to the release of a number of similar games from developers hoping to cash in on the last-person-standing genre.
With tens of millions of players each, both Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) are incredibly popular games in the nascent “battle royale” video game genre.
With tens of millions of players each, both Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) are incredibly popular games in the nascent “battle royale” video game genre.
With tens of millions of players each, both Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) are incredibly popular games in the nascent “battle royale” video game genre.
They’re on consoles, phones and PCs. Even singer-songwriter Drake’s getting in on it.
The battle royale concept is quite simple: 100 unarmed players parachute onto an island complete with abandoned buildings full of weapons and supplies. The players kill or be killed, while attempting to stay within a shrinking play zone. The last player standing is the winner.
The battle royale genre has become a hot commodity – particularly since the recent release of mobile versions of PUBG and Fortnite. A look at the Apple App Store or Google Play charts will reveal just how many other games are jumping on the bandwagon.
Tencent launches Battlegrounds on mobile in the US
The creation of the genre is largely credited to one man: Brendan Greene. He’s the man in charge of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and is an Irish game developer who works for Bluehole Studios, the parent company of PUBG.
Before he worked with Bluehole, Greene created mods to existing games that offered a glimpse of what the battle royale genre could become.
In March 2017, PUBG launched on the Steam digital storefront as an early access PC game – a playable unfinished product that players could pay for, funding ongoing development. It became a runaway success, making more than US$500 million, and remains the most played game on Steam to this day.
An Xbox version was released last December and a mobile version developed by Chinese gaming giant Tencent followed last month.
Epic Games’ Fortnite wasn’t originally a battle royale game. That came later, with the launch of Fortnite: Battle Royale, a separate mode. As originally conceived, Fortnite is a third-person shooter focused on survival gameplay.
You, or you and a group of friends, take on hordes of enemies from the tentative safety of a fort you’ve crafted. It launched in July 2017 and unlike PUBG, is free to play.