PlayerUnkown’s Battlegrounds has been the speak of the city as of late, so it was solely a matter of time that it will turn out to be obtainable on consoles to widen its viewers. Because it seems, that point has come and talks of a Battlegrounds Xbox One model has already begun to floor following an interview with Eurogamer.
However right here’s the issue: whereas the truth that a Battlegrounds Xbox One model is coming has been made abundantly clear, what isn’t as clear is whether or not it is going to be actually unique to the Xbox One and skip the PlayStation 4 fully.
After all, this isn’t because of the lack of making an attempt to acquire as a lot info as potential. Each Microsoft and Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene have been oddly roundabout in the way in which they focus on Battlegrounds and its alleged exclusivity. Everybody has confirmed that it is going to be coming to the Xbox One, however none of them have definitively stated “no” to it coming to the PlayStation 4.
First, there’s Mike Ybarra, company vice chairman of Microsoft’s gaming division throughout Xbox and PC:
“We’re publishing it on Xbox and it’s a console launch unique,” stated Ybarra when questioned about Battlegrounds alleged Xbox One exclusivity. “For the rest – we don’t wish to reply on behalf of builders, so that you’d should ask Bluehole. I’ve obtained a big portion of my crew working with them to optimize it and their [Bluehole] focus is fully on the PC and Xbox, interval, to get that completed.”
When questioned on what console launch unique actually meant, he merely stated, “It’s as much as Bluehole. We’re not the developer.”
Chatting with Greene didn’t do a lot both, with him refusing to say something about any potential future developments between Battlegrounds and the PS4:
“No, simply in the mean time we simply don’t have any bandwidth to work on some other model,” Greene stated. “That’s why we did the publishing cope with Microsoft, as a result of the console port for Xbox was being completed by Anticto in Spain, which is mainly three or 4 guys. They’re hiring extra now however now we have now Microsoft’s assist… we simply need to deal with the Xbox and Home windows variations.”
Sadly, should you anticipated discourse on Twitter to be any totally different, then you definately’d be sorely mistaken. When questioned, but once more, about what the implications of a console launch unique had been, Sammie Kang, the lead group supervisor for PUBG, stated:
“Sure. This partnership is about permitting our dev crew to solely deal with Xbox & PC improvement and produce PUBG to Xbox gamers sooner.”
With so many individuals who ought to be capable to simply say whether or not Battlegrounds will stay unique to the Xbox One, the one actual conclusion that may be made is that it gained’t be and a PlayStation 4 model will likely be coming ultimately (just like Rise of the Tomb Raider, which discovered itself in an identical debacle in 2014). A recreation as well-liked as Battlegrounds is a fairly large deal and also you’d assume that Microsoft can be singing from the rooftops if it managed to snag unique rights to it. Its silence speaks volumes.
And if you consider it, there’s no specific cause why Battlegrounds Xbox model can be the one console launch: what does Bluehole stand to realize out of it? The PS4 stays the best-selling console in the mean time and it will be in Bluehole’s greatest curiosity to get a bit of the pie whereas the going is sweet. Except Microsoft lured Bluehole in with some superb deal, ignoring the PS4 would simply be hurting the sport’s potential.
After all, the query of whether or not it should stay unique to the Xbox One (it gained’t) isn’t the one difficulty right here. One other is that each occasion concerned stays unwilling to flat out admit whats occurring when there’s no cause to not. It’s virtually comical to assume that this story would have gotten far much less consideration if Battlegrounds standing on consoles had been confirmed a technique or one other. Positive, some folks can be upset if it had been unique to Xbox One, however everybody’s mad about one thing already.
So whereas we wait for somebody to sensible up and simply inform us what’s occurring, followers of the sport can sit up for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds full launch on PC in late 2017 and Battlegrounds Xbox model sooner or later sooner or later.
Try the total Eurogamer interview here.