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PUBG Corp. and Epic Games, developers of the respective battle royale behemoths PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite, are good pals with each other, according to an interview with PCGamesN.
What feels like aeons and aeons ago, Fortnite used to only be a PvE game with a mode called Save the World. Save the World is where you fight against zombies and building fortifications with your small team of survivors. This didn’t grip gamers’ imaginations, but then Epic Games transformed Fortnite into a PvP battle royale, increasing its popularity stratospherically. Not everyone was pleased however, and PUBG Corp. sued Epic Games early last year over the similarities between the two games.
Today, things couldn’t be more different. PUBG Corp. studio director Brian Corrigan spoke to PCGamesN and said, ‘People have this idea that there’s some animosity or something with Epic, but they’re one of our best partners, we talk to them all the time!’
PUBG Corp. has also been inspired by Fortnite’s battle pass feature, but Corrigan stressed the reciprocity of game development processes nowadays: ‘When [PUBG] first came out – years ago now, I guess – the idea was to just sell a copy of the game, and it’s going to be great, and that’s that. A lot of the season stuff has been our internal thinking evolving over time.’
‘While I think we can learn a little bit from how that’s working over there, just like all games learn from each other, I don’t think their model exactly works for us.’ Corrigan went on to credit the esports programme and the unique intensity of PUBG matches as what sets it apart from other battle royale titles. ‘I guess what I’m trying to say is, it’s not like we’re taking the blueprint over there and trying to build a better photocopier. That’s not it. If there’s pieces that work for us, that’s great, because we should learn from the best teachers across a lot of different games, but our formula is unique.’
PUBG’s fourth season has just begun, remastering its original map Erangel and offers a paid battle pass.
