The shooter “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” is now playable on Steam. Early Access started today.
After the Closed Beta ended last weekend, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is now playable on Steam. For €29.99 you can get the game on Steam.
The PC shooter was developed by Bluehole together with Brendan “Player Unknown” Greene, the creator of the popular “Battle Royale” mode, which also made waves as a mod in other shooters like ARMA or H1Z1.
In a Battle Royale, all players fight against each other on a large map. Over time, the map shrinks as the outer areas turn into death zones. This increases the drama of the battle with each passing minute, as fewer players spread out over less and less space, making confrontation inevitable.
One of the basic ideas is to take the gear from defeated players to become stronger. There are two typical tactics: One is to seek every confrontation and loot the opponents’ equipment. The other tactic is to avoid all fights as much as possible and rely on opponents taking each other out.
This principle worked well not only in shooters but also in Hollywood films, particularly in the “Hunger Games” franchise. Originally, the concept goes back to a Japanese novel that dramatically illustrated the ruthless culling of the Japanese school system. In the 1999 novel “Battle Royale,” the students of a class were pitted against each other until only one remained.
Battlegrounds is expected to remain in Early Access for 6 months
In an interview with PC Gamer, Greene believes that “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” will be in Early Access for about 6 months. It is to be developed in close collaboration with the community.
He is quite confident that his game will be a success. Initial feedback on Twitch gives him confidence.
During the beta, Greene distributed about 20,000 keys. Up to 10,000 players were online at the same time during the beta weekends.
Success on Twitch will likely decide the fate of the shooter
These battle royale shooters are a big deal on Twitch. Some of the leading shooter games on the streaming network, it is said, have chosen “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” as their new “favorite battle royale” shooter – including streamers like Lirik and summit1g. They were already heavily courted during H1Z1. Such streamers have thousands of followers and wield significant influence.
Whether the streamers and their followers will stick with Battlegrounds will certainly also influence the success of the new game.
The similarly styled H1Z1 is currently attempting a huge tournament:
H1Z1 fails as a zombie MMO, triumphs with a $300,000 TV tournament
