PUBG Creator Leaves PUBG Owner to Form New Studio

Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene, the original creator of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds or PUBG or PUBG: Battlegrounds as it is currently labeled, has officially left PUBG: Battlegrounds owner Krafton to form a new independent video game development studio, PLAYERUNKNOWN Productions. Technically, PLAYERUNKNOWN Productions had previously existed within the greater structure of Krafton, and even announced a new game called prologue back in 2019, but this marks the exit of the studio out from under the direct umbrella of Krafton. Despite that, according to the announcement, Krafton will still hold a minority stake in PLAYERUNKNOWN Productions.

"I'm so very grateful to everyone at PUBG and KRAFTON for taking a chance on me and for the opportunities they afforded me over the past four years," said Greene as part of the announcement of the formation of the newly independent PLAYERUNKNOWN Productions. "Today, I'm excited to take the next step on my journey to create the kind of experience I've envisaged for years. Again, I'm thankful for everyone at KRAFTON for supporting my plans, and I'll have more to reveal more about our project at a later date."

Greene is best known for the creation of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and his battle royale mods for the ARMA series of video games that ultimately led to the mode appearing in H1Z1 before the creation and release of PUBG: Battlegrounds. It is unclear whether PLAYERUNKNOWN Productions will continue in this same vein, but the description of the studio seems to imply that Greene and company are looking to do something a little bit different this time around.

PLAYERUNKNOWN Productions is based in Amsterdam and describes itself as "[a] studio set up to explore, experiment and create new technologies, pipelines, and gameplay." As noted above, the only video game attached to the studio at the moment is the previously announced prologue, and it is unclear whether that title made the jump from Krafton as well. As for PUBG: Battlegrounds, the title remains in active development at Krafton's PUBG Studios. You can check out all of our previous coverage of PUBG itself right here.

What do you think about PlayerUnknown striking out on his own once again? Are you excited to see what sort of video games the newly independent studio might come up with? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk about all things gaming!