Brendan Greene, aka PlayerUnknown, will be leaving his old position working on PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds in favor of a different direction. The creator of one of the most popular battle royale games of all-time announced he would be pursuing a brand new project and would be taking on a different role within PUBG Corporation as a result.
PUBG was once the apple of the eye of battle royale players everywhere, but has recently fallen on hard times as more competitors crop up with innovative additions to the formula that PUBG innovated. Still, the game is one of the first of its kind, and kickstarted a genre that has now come to completely dominate the gaming industry. While PUBG appears to be heading in the wrong direction of late, it’s difficult to dispute that Greene has a keen eye for what would catch the interest of gamers, and it’s not like PUBG is going anywhere - it’s just unlikely to pose much of a threat to Fortnite or the insurgent Apex Legends at this point.
Greene’s announcement appeared earlier today on his Twitter account, where the creator of PUBG reflected on the last half-decade of his career. While Greene is clearly appreciative of the title that made him an industry star, he also sounded relieved to finally be heading in a different direction with his creative process, stating:
Greene also announced that his newly-formed division would necessitate a change in location for him as well, as he’ll be leaving Seoul in favor of Amsterdam, stating he will be focused on “building out an entirely new division.” Not much is known about PUBG Special Projects, but Greene indicated that its priorities will be on research & game development, so it won’t be too much of a departure from what his former role in PUBG Corp. was.
“The past five years of my life has been all about battle royale…today, I’m excited to announce that my new day-to-day focus will be heading up a new division of PUBG Corp.: PUBG Special Projects. While I’ll remain as consulting creative director on PUBG, development will be led by Taeseok Jang and the fantastic team I have had the honor of working with over the past three years.”
A lot about the new move for Greene is unclear, including what his role will be in PUBG moving forward. It’s possible he will still continue to offer significant input on future changes to PUBG, or it’s possible he will be entirely focused on new projects instead. The only info we currently have about the new team being formed is that it currently exists and is apparently hiring.
While the future remains unknown (sorry) for Greene, it’s an exciting move from a creative mind that was clearly ready for a change. PUBG might not be faring well lately, but Greene managed to turn a relatively small project into a worldwide phenomenon, and whatever he turns his attention to next will surely be measured under intense scrutiny and anticipation as a result. As the battle royale genre begins to grow a little stale for some, perhaps PlayerUnknown will be the one to innovate gaming’s trajectory once more.
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Source: @PLAYERUNKNOWN
