While Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds isn’t the inventor of the battle arena game mode, they have most certainly put it on the map. Recently, the first “challenger” to the game emerged when Epic Games announced that Fortnite Battle Arena, a game mode within Fortnite would be released as a free to play game starting on September 26. As a response, it looks like PUBG developer Bluehole has some concerns about how closely Epic’s game is following their model.
Bluehole executive producer and vice president Chang Han Kim issued the following statement earlier:
“We’ve had an ongoing relationship with Epic Games throughout PUBG’s development as they are the creators of UE4, the engine we licensed for the game. 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.”
Kim followed this statement by later saying:
“The PUBG community has and continues to provide evidence of the many similarities as we contemplate further action.”
The creator of PUBG, Brendan Greene has also gotten involved. He issued the following statement on Reddit:
“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!”
Although Fortnite may be the first game to take a crack at the battle arena game mode following the success of PUBG, they certainly won’t be the last. It will be interesting to see where Bluehole takes this, not just with Fortnite, but other games going forward.
Keep it tuned to Proven Gamer for updates!
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