Since its release in 2017, Player Unknowns Battlegrounds often called as PUBG has grown leaps and bounds. A single level fps game embedded with bugs and rendering errors was so irresistible that it was an overnight sensation. In just under six months the game had sold 10 million copies around the world and doesn’t show any signs of stopping anytime soon. PUBG has also enjoyed huge success on mobile devices.
That makes me wonder, why did PUBG enjoy such success despite being in its early development phases at the time of release? Was it passion of Brendan Greene who created this amazing game or was it the unique idea of last man standing that intrigued so many players in the world. Well I think there were many parameters to its success besides ideas and passion. Greene was a designer and had a vision for creating something like this for a long time, but he had no game programming knowledge. He taught himself how to create mods and deploy them on servers. In the initial days he would host the discord servers for mere 1000 players. He wanted to create a platform where people could communicate and team up with random players around the globe.
Greene told media agencies multiple times that he had the inspiration for the game from battle royale, a movie in which 42 passengers of the plane are deserted on an island and they fight to survive among themselves. To put this into gaming with guns and armors was definitely a cool and unique idea. Due to his unconventional but unique game programming skills the game was released with bugs and rendering errors, but that was done on purpose to let the game evolve itself into the liking of people playing it. This was the first time something like this had happened and to everyone’s surprise working with Greene, it worked. The beta version was launched and given to top players in the world who provided the all-important feedback, which led to improvement and evolution of the game.
Later in the year the game was released on mobile platform across countries and received widespread acceptance. Game had many new ideas apart from other fps games. It is a one hit and die game, so players cannot respwan their characters and resume the play. Players tend to be more cautious about their character and strategize accordingly. Matches can go as long as 20 minutes or more. In the last phases of the game the play gets so intense and gripping that people will pay to watch these game plays. Every time a player has to use an adaptive strategy, which takes the boring out of the question. It also has a fun options like customizing your character and adding your friends to form a crew.
And much to the luck of PUBG when it was released, some countries like India had just been inducting revolution for high speed and unlimited internet which helped its cause. As they say, fortune favors the brave.
It was Greene not knowing there was a box and hence automatically thought out of the box that made PUBG what it is today!
