PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) is the most popular game on Steam, and even if it’s on Early Access, lots of players are enjoying the battle royale title from Bluehole Studios. While initially a PC game, it’s moving towards in the console scene first with Microsoft’s Xbox One.
Brendan Greene, the Creative Director at the Korean studio Bluehole, stated that the deal for the Xbox One’s exclusivity was because of the platform holder’s “expertise” on both the PC and Xbox space.
Greene also mentioned that porting the game to Xbox One because they’re using Unreal Engine for PUBG. He also stated that his main team is focused on the PC version’s development, while Microsoft’s developers are helping Bluehole for the Xbox One version – Greene told GamesIndustry.biz in an interview.
[alert type=white]
“We use Unreal, and with Unreal porting to Xbox is simple enough. And now that we’re published by Microsoft, they’re sending people to our office in Korea, and in Span, and they’re going to help port the game. The main development team still works on the PC version.
We’re doing the publishing deal because of the expertise they bring to it, and not just to the Xbox version, but the PC version as well. We run on Windows, which is a Microsoft product, and we’re working with them… to try and improve security that allows cheating to happen. It’s just strengthening that relationship with the people who make the platforms so that the Xbox and the PC version can be the best they can.“[/alert]
Greene also reiterates the reason why they can’t port it to PS4 just yet: the team size. However, it’s not just the number of his developers, but the inclusion of the Preview Program offered on Xbox One also seemed to be a big factor for this decision.
[alert type=white]
“This is just, as I keep saying, our team size is just so limited at the moment. We can only focus on PC and Xbox. We just don’t have the time, and Xbox has the Preview Program, which allows us to – like Early Access – develop the game with the players. That’s where our focus is right now, and we just want to make the best version of the game for both of those platforms.“[/alert]
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is still on early access but is expected to fully launch later this year.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz
