Curious fact about PUBG: PlayerUnknown worked on a battle royale mode for H1Z1 at Sony in 2015. But then everything changed. Today, Microsoft has snatched the hit, and PUBG’s future on the PS4 seems uncertain.
It’s a strange story that gains irony in hindsight. The studio “Sony Online Entertainment” belonged to Sony but never quite fit into the corporation. At the helm of SOE was the controversial John Smedley. Smedley has extensive experience in game design, having worked on Everquest and Star Wars Galaxies, but he was also known for rubbing people the wrong way.
In 2014/2015, his Sony studio was not in a good place. The existing MMOs of the studio (Everquest, DC Universe Online, Planetside 2) were all aging, and only the massive project “Everquest Next” offered any future promise. However, there had been no updates for a long time.
At that time, the asset at SOE was H1Z1, a zombie survival game that had just entered early access and sparked a mini hype – but the game was still rough, and that hype was in danger of fading away.
In January 2015, Sony had all the puzzle pieces that make PUBG a hit today
The amazing thing is that Smedley in January 2015 brought on board the battle royale inventor “PlayerUnknown” to help create a battle royale mode for H1Z1. Smedley had already recognized great potential in Brendan Greene and his idea of “Battle Royale” back in 2014. At that time, Greene was just a modder.
Smedley called him before Christmas 2014 and said, “We should talk. I’m John Smedley, the President of SOE.” Shortly after, Greene was working for Sony on H1Z1.
But that wasn’t all: Smedley also had the idea to fully embrace Twitch, inviting streamers to promote his games. He had even done that before H1Z1.
Basically, Smedley, who was working for Sony, had all the ideas in January 2015 that would make “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” a gaming hit in 2017:
- enter early access
- fully embrace battle royale
- bring in PlayerUnknown and have him build the mode
- design the gameplay to work on Twitch
- collaborate with streamers
All of that was either done or in the works by January 2015 and belonged to Sony.
A month later, everything was different
But back then, that was not recognized, and it seemingly came too early.
The studio “SOE” was practically sold off immediately after PlayerUnknown started there and continued as the “Daybreak” studio on its own – H1Z1, the battle royale mode, Smedley, and PlayerUnknown had nothing more to do with Sony.
The timeline of Sony/PlayerUnknown is:
- December 2014: Smedley recruits PlayerUnknown for H1Z1 and Sony Online Entertainment
- January 2015: The two present the “Battle Royale” concept for H1Z1 and say that it holds great potential
- February 2015: Sony separates from the studio, and it continues on its own.
Quite curious. What happened next?
- Smedley later stepped down from his job there after a controversy. Everquest Next was later canceled.
- H1Z1 was turned into two games – the battle royale shooter King of the Kill was successful for a while but has since been overtaken by PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
- Greene began in 2016 to rebuild his idea from scratch with the Korean developer Bluehole and make “his shooter” without compromises.
PUBG and Sony and Microsoft – an interesting relationship triangle
Ironically, competitor Microsoft has now snatched the ultra-hot shooter PUBG as a “console partner,” and Sony players are anxious about whether PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds will still come to their console. PUBG will likely be released for the PS4, but later than for the Xbox One. All of this could have been different.
Smedley: Ahead of His Time
My MMO thinks: The admittedly hypothetical question is whether H1Z1 could have become the hit PUBG is today with more money and help from Sony in 2015. We don’t know.
The amazing thing is that Everquest creator John Smedley already suspected in 2015 what would become the hit in 2017. Smedley basically did everything right but has no part of it today because he is no longer involved with the games. But it’s worth keeping an eye on Smedley; perhaps he has an idea about what will take off in 2019.
Because today, Smedley runs a gaming studio for Amazon, after an indie project failed.
