PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds will not be released in October 2017. Contrary to the original plans of chief developer Brendan Greene, the release will not happen 6 months after early access start.
Brendan Greene, the namesake PlayerUnknown and Creative Director of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, initially stated the goal was to stay in early access for only six or seven months. Brendan Greene has reiterated this goal in interviews recently.
Greene is now retracting this timeframe.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds – Launch still in 2017?
Brendan Greene’s new statement is that it was a mistake to link the launch to a specific month. This would put unnecessary pressure on the team and might lead to them being unable to deliver a fully polished game. Therefore, they do not want to specify a concrete launch date anymore and will delay the release.
Does this mean that PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds will follow the path of DayZ and become an endlessly unfinished early access title? Probably not, as Brendan Greene further claimed that they still plan for the release to be before the end of Q4 2017. In the worst case, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds will be released just before New Year 2018.
The developers at Bluehole will continue to diligently work on the EA version of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and, as before, will bring new content every month. For example, new maps, a zombie mode, and mod support.
What do you think about Brendan Greene’s announcement? Was it obvious that they wouldn’t make it in the given time frame, or are you disappointed by the prior boasting of the developer? Let us know in the comments!
Also interesting: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds – Here’s what the new desert map looks like
