With the recent massive success of PUBG, it’ will be about time when other established developers take the Battle Royale idea for their own games. Epic was the first right out of the gate. They created a PvP mode for Fortnite that is straight-up called Battle Royale. Epic even explicitly referenced PUBG as thier inspiration.
PUBG developers Bluehole is not happy with that, and has issued a press release regarding this.
As various sites have reported, here’s a statement from PUBG producer Chang Han Kim:
“After listening to the growing feedback from our community and reviewing the gameplay for ourselves, we are concerned that Fortnite may be replicating the experience for which PUBG is known.
We have also noticed that Epic Games references PUBG in the promotion of Fortnite to their community and in communications with the press. This was never discussed with us and we don’t feel that it’s right.
The PUBG community has and continues to provide evidence of the many similarities as we contemplate further action.”
Those are strong words and the facts stated are true, but should the South Korean developers take action against Epic, it would result in an awkward relationship, considering that PUBG is powered by Epic’s Unreal 4 engine.
The press release also pointed out a statement by PlayerUnknown himself in a Reddit AMA that it would be in time that other games will attempt to make a Battle Royale: “Other companies will, of course, enter the marketplace, but I would just hope they put their own spin on the game mode and not just make a carbon copy!”
Also note that PUBG isn’t the first Battle Royale game. PlayerUnknown has made various Battle Royale mods for ARMA and was instrumental with the design of H1Z1: King Of The Kill, which featured similar gameplay. Also, there are a host of various games that has ideas that are similar to PUBG’s Battle Royale.
What makes Fortnite an exception from these other games is that they are referencing so hard on PUBG itself. Some may see it as flattery, but not Bluehole.
Fortnite is still in Early Access, but its Battle Royale mode will be out next week for everyone for free.
UPDATE 23/9/17: Chang Han Kim has further clarified about the press release in an interview with PC Gamer. The main issue Bluehole has with Fortnite is that it puts their relationship with Epic in an odd situation, such as the fear that Unreal Engine will be tailored to Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode, or the tech to effectively run the mode be made exclusive to Epic or Bluhole’s specific workarounds in Unreal be made available for everyone.