PlayerUnknown

Brendan Greene
Greene in 2018
Born (1976-03-29) March 29, 1976 (age 48)
Ballyshannon, Ireland[1]
NationalityIrish
Other namesPlayerUnknown
Occupation(s)Video game designer, video game director
Known forPUBG: Battlegrounds

Brendan Greene (born March 29, 1976), better known as PlayerUnknown, is an Irish video game developer. He is best known for his work on PUBG: Battlegrounds. He left active development on the game to form PUBG Special Projects and PlayerUnknown Productions in March 2019.[2][3]

Career

In 2013, Greene was living in Brazil as an event photographer and freelance website designer.[4] While trying to save up enough money to buy a plane ticket back to Ireland, he found himself playing video games, particularly the open world survival DayZ mod for Arma 2. He modded the game himself, working under the pseudonym "PlayerUnknown". After experimenting with last-man-standing gameplay, in 2013, he eventually released a mod called DayZ: Battle Royale, named after the 2000 Japanese action film Battle Royale.[5]

PlayerUnknown's Battle Royale (Arma 3 mod)

After the release of Arma 3, Greene started working on a modification for the game, named PlayerUnknown's Battle Royale. The mod followed the same basic last-man standing principle of the Battle Royale DayZ mod, while introducing some features like the airplane that dropped players across a wider terrain[6] and an online leaderboard.

H1Z1: Battle Royale

After DayZ: Battle Royale and PlayerUnknown's Battle Royale achieved success, Greene was recruited by Sony Online Entertainment as an advisor for the development of a battle royale game mode for H1Z1, recreating the basic elements of DayZ: Battle Royale.[7] H1Z1 released into early access in 2015 with a battle royale mode now known as H1Z1: King of the Kill.[8]

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds

Main article: PUBG: Battlegrounds

In 2016, H1Z1: King of the Kill caught the attention of South Korean game company Krafton, which reached out to Greene about creating his own game based on his previous work. Greene moved to Korea to join Krafton as a creative director, working on the game that became PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, which Greene described as "that sort of final realization of my vision".[9][10]

PUBG Special Projects / PlayerUnknown Productions

In March 2019, Greene left development at PUBG and moved to Amsterdam to form PUBG Special Projects.[11] In December 2019, Greene announced a new game called Prologue under a new studio PlayerUnknown Productions, described as "an exploration of new technologies and gameplay."[12]

Greene announced in August 2021 that he was leaving Krafton while maintaining his PlayerUnknown Productions in Amsterdam. He stated that the studio would not work on the battle royale genre but something more experimental.[13] The new studio continued work on the Prologue game.[14]

References

  1. ^ "PUBG founder leaves Krafton to create new gaming studio". Sportskeeda. 1 September 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  2. ^ "The Creator of 'PUBG' on Where Battle Royale Started and Where It's Going". Vice. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  3. ^ Brown, Fraser (13 March 2019). "Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene is leaving PUBG". PC Gamer. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  4. ^ Huddleston, Tom Jr. (26 April 2019). "From playing video games while broke on welfare to creating billion-dollar game 'PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds'". CNBC. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  5. ^ "How It's Made – How Brendan Greene and PUBG revolutionized gaming". ESPN.com. 25 June 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  6. ^ "The Creator of 'PUBG' on Where Battle Royale Started and Where It's Going". www.vice.com. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  7. ^ Marks, Tom (21 January 2015). "Battle Royale modder Brendan Greene on his official H1Z1 mode". PC Gamer. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  8. ^ Hall, Charlie (28 February 2018). "H1Z1 is leaving Steam Early Access right now, adding a new cars-only mode". Polygon. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  9. ^ "The Creator of 'PUBG' on Where Battle Royale Started and Where It's Going". www.vice.com. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  10. ^ "The Creator of 'PUBG' on Where Battle Royale Started and Where It's Going". www.pubgmodsworld.com. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  11. ^ Arif, Shabana (13 March 2021). "PUBG Creator Now Working on New Projects". IGN. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  12. ^ O'Conner, James (16 December 2019). "Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene's Next Game, Prologue, Is Not A Shooter". GameSpot. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  13. ^ Takahashi, Dean (31 August 2021). "Brendan 'PlayerUnknown' Greene leaves Krafton to form PlayerUnknown Productions". Venture Beat. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  14. ^ Takahashi, Dean (3 September 2021). "Brendan 'PlayerUnknown' Greene reveals an ambitious new game world dubbed Prologue". Venture Beat. Retrieved 3 September 2021.