It’s a common belief that rivals in a certain market actually hate each other. Marvel and DC hate each other, various TV networks try to hurt the other, and of course, various video game developers and publishers are trying to blow their foes right out of the industry. But rarely is that actually true. And while certain developers may not like certain moves that other developers do, that doesn’t mean they eternally hate them. A perfect example is PlayerUnknown and his thoughts on Fortnite.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has dominated the market since launch. It helped create the Battle Royale in a way that made it truly meaningful. But then, Fortnite came along, and almost literally stole its Battle Royale mode and added it to their title. Fast forward to now, and the game is actually doing better than PUBG in numerous ways, including profit revenue, and concurrent players. But, what does PlayerUnknown himself think about this?
Well, at GDC, he talked about both games, and when asked about what his rival had done and is doing, he noted:
“It’s great that the battle royale space is expanding and Fortnite is getting the battle royale game mode in the hands of a lot more people.”
Ironically, this is a much different take on his competitor than he had last year after the Epic Games put a battle royale mode in their title. In fact, PlayerUnknown literally accused them of just copying their entire game and putting it into theirs. Whether he was “playing for the camera” or has mellowed out since then is unclear. However, he did say this later on in the panel:
“I really try to combat that perception that I want other people’s games to die.”
To be clear, both games are still doing very well, so they can clearly exist at the same time. Maybe they’re both realizing that.
