H1Z1 Developer Says There Wouldn't Be A PUBG If Not For Their Game
It's no secret that "Player Unknown's Battlegrounds" has been doing pretty well for itself breaking Steam's record of most concurrent players right after hitting one million collective players online. But the developer behind the survival sandbox massively multiplayer online game "H1Z1" has a few choice words for the game.
"There wouldn't be a PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds if there wasn't an 'H1Z1,'" said Daybreak Games General Manager Anthony Castoro in an interview with IGN. According to him, "PUBG" was created at an opportune time and that creator Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene actually learned a lot from his work on "H1Z1."
"I think there was a lot of mentoring that went on for Brendan, because he hadn't done commercial games before, he had done mods," Castoro said. "He learned a lot, I think probably, from the development cycle there."
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When asked what "PUBG" did that made it so successful, Castoro dismissed it as "fast follow opportunity" after "H1Z1" "pioneered this idea." He added that it was Daybreak Games was the first to identify the commercial opportunity with a game that could really work.
Castoro explained that "PUBG" first took an existing game engine, then looked for someone who had experience working with the idea and just does a decent job with a game. "H1Z1" was already gaining popularity and really figuring out the formula, however, it was a zombie survival game, not a battle royale, and Castoro admits that the genre really is fun and exciting and engaging.
Greene started out as a modder for "DayZ" before he was hired to join Daybreak Games to work as a consultant. He then went on to become a full-fledged developer with PUBG using the 2000 film "Battle Royale" for inspiration. The game's popularity has surged in recent months and was even able to surpass Valve's popular multiplayer online battle arena "Dota" 2 in terms of concurrent players on Steam.
"Player Unknown's Battlegrounds" is currently available in Early Access on Steam and later the Xbox One.
