A new PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds map and what's next for PUBG, revealed by Mr Unknown himself
"I've always imagined Battlegrounds as you're playing a movie"
Today at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco Brendan Greene, better known as PlayerUnknown of the much loved Battlegrounds, gave a talk on his route from gamer to battle royale super creator. Along the way he also revealed that was next for the massive game, including more about a new map.
It's a 4x4km map, "much more intense", and will arrive in PUBG next month. "It harks back to my days of creating other game modes within ARMA," says Greene.
ICYMI at my @Official_GDC talk, here's an early WIP preview of our 4x4km map, coming soon to the new @PUBATTLEGROUNDS Experimental Test Servers!#ThisIsBattleRoyale pic.twitter.com/JGRv57A7STMarch 23, 2018
Greene also promised a push for more of a real world flavour for the PUBG world in future updates. "We're really committed to creating these realistic worlds," said Greene. "One of Korean artists just loves terrain and he loves really trying to make our terrains more and more realistic. With our new 8x8 map, coming out later this year, he spent a long time working on it and it really shows."
Another focus is allowing players to decide how they play. "We want to expand on our custom games," said Greene. "We can't promise full modding, because there are security issues, and we're trying to be a competitive game, so we have to limit what you can actually do."
Standing next to a picture of a giant roast chicken, Greene was gracious when asked about Fortnite, PUBG's biggest rival, during the question and answer portion of the talk. "It’s great," he said, after teasing he had "lots of thoughts" about the game. "The battle royale space is expanding. It's getting battle royale to a lot more people. It grows the genre."
For more from Greene, check out our interview about copycats, Twitch, and how he won't stop until it's your favorite esport.
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Rachel Weber is the former US Managing Editor of GamesRadar+ and lives in Brooklyn, New York. She joined GamesRadar+ in 2017, revitalizing the news coverage and building new processes and strategies for the US team.