PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds in early access March 23
The next big contender
You know what they call a Battle Royale game in the USA? Battle Quarter Pounder. True story. Arena survival shooters are all around these days, taking the scavenge-o-sandbox style of DayZ and packaging it up in little murderous packages. One of the earlier Battle Royale 'em ups was an Arma 2/3 mod created by PlayerUnknown and now, after helping on H1Z1: King of the Kill, he's teamed up with Tera devs Bluehole Studio for a full standalone commercial Hunger Gameser of his own. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds [official site] is its name, and entering early access on March 23rd is its game. That's the word out of PAX East, accompanied by this new trailer:
It's a fairly typical Battle Royale dealio: 64 players are dunked onto an 8x8km island to scavenge for weapons, vehicles, and supplies then hide, sneak, and murder until they're the only one left.
Even the most popular of Battle Royale 'em ups are pretty janky so one well-done could be a good'un. King of the Kill, for example, is the third-most played game on Steam as I write, behind Dota 2 and CS:GO, in spite of its wonk.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds will cost $29.99 when it hits Steam Early Access. The plan is to reach full release within six months, building on player feedback while while adding new modes and things. Mod tools are planned too.
