"In the Battle Royale, it's the notion of freedom that seduces players as much"

Few games can claim to have more than 400 million users worldwide. Phenomenon since its launch in March 2017, the South Korean video game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, alias PUBG, was an overwhelming success. Sales are estimated at 50 million copies on PC and Xbox One, and 350 million downloads on mobile application. In total, more than 87 million people would connect each day to this first-person shooter. The Bluehole publisher takes advantage of this enthusiasm to launch e-sports competitions with the Global Invitational in Berlin (July 25-29). He wants to give a second wind to his baby who has popularized the Battle Royale. This kind of game of parachuting 100 players on an island where they must fight until the last survivor is now the preserve of
Fortnite. The enemy brother is experiencing an unprecedented triumph (150 million players in less than a year). Far from being defeated, the creator of PUBG, Brendan Greene, discusses the popularity of the Battle Royale, which he himself popularized.

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The Point: How do you badyze the success of your game?

Brendan Greene: I simply designed the game I wanted to have as a player. All hits that you see as Counter Strike, Dota or PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds were invented by enthusiasts who made what they dreamed of. I can not tell you why my title worked better than another, but I know that I wanted to try this game at all costs. We have a little innovated compared to what was done before. Starting the game by jumping from an airplane to the island was a real novelty at the time. A year and a half after its launch, the dream came to me in the face of the popularity of our fashion Battle Royale and its e-sports potential. To fill a stage of people who come to look at your creation, it is indescribable.

Exactly, tell us the creation of this famous fashion …

It came from my taste for the games of survival and movies Hunger Games and Battle Royale . I thought the idea was cool, but difficult enough to put in place. Before taking the lead of a studio in South Korea, I was called a moderator. I made modes of play on the military simulation series Arma, produced by Bohemia Interactive. So I integrated my ideas by leaving the DayZ mode in 2012 for Arma II . It was a survival game in a post-apocalyptic world with zombies, that's really how the Battle Royale was born. Interested in what I was doing, Bohemia Interractive let me test my concept for a year and a half on Arma III . This experience proved very useful when I started working on PUBG because I knew where I wanted to go in terms of design. The design was easier, although the main difficulty was finding the right balance between the weapons. If you balance vehicles or equipment badly, players tend to get tired quickly.

Battlefield and Call of Duty will join Fortnite with a Battle Royale mode, how do you explain this craze?

To be honest, the situation is weird. I never thought my fashion would be so successful. I think it's the notion of freedom that has seduced players as much. You can do everything and try every possible and imaginable strategy to win. There is not one way but several ways to play to win the game. I can not wait to see what will be presented Battlefield and Call of Duty . I think they will not copy us. It's exciting to watch the genre grow. Each new title will try to be unique. We have already experienced this with the MOBA (online multiplayer battle arena).

Yet they are your competitors …

I do not believe they are our competitors, we do with PUBG A realistic royal battle, and we only focus on our title. Our goal is to make the game unique and above all better as the months go on.

What is your opinion of the success of Fortnite, that targeted the general public and casual gamers?

I think it's great to see so many players on a game. Personally, I do not consider Fortnite a competitor and we do very different things. We are in a realistic position with many details.

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Is this why PUBG Corp has stopped its prosecution against Fortnite ?

It is not possible for me to comment on legal decisions

Many players appreciate the punitive side of your title. PUBG Is it for hardcore gamers?

No, this game is for those who like challenges. In many games, you die and you come back to life a few seconds later to quietly resume the game. I found it more interesting to integrate a notion of difficulty forcing people to focus. If you make a stupid mistake, you are shot and the game is over. The pleasure of this concept is that you have to train to survive. We are still far from the series Arma, which is a real military simulation particularly realistic. PUBG is sometimes difficult, but not impossible. The more you play, the more you will survive.

PUBG is a great success in Asia, especially in China. Why, in your opinion?

It's hard to explain why, but I know that Chinese players are great fans of FPS (first-person shooter). Asians have a very strong performance culture. With PUBG you have a chance to prove that you are the best player out of 99, and I think that's what drew that audience.

There are also a significant number of cheats. You have already banned over a million people!

All multiplayer games have cheats. We have received a lot of criticism, but it takes time to build a system that prevents cheating, especially on the computer. We worked for a year on a strategy, which we keep secret, to identify more easily reprehensible attitudes.

What do you want to do in the field of e-sport?

We want to build a e-sports scene effective based on a pyramid organization, where amateur players can become professional. We rely on local and regional competitions in a global structure to have teams around the world. This is a big challenge for PUBG . Players must feel that they can evolve in a strong and protective environment. You know, it's not marketing for us. E-sport makes it possible to bring more people and to feed a continuous interest for our title. The tournaments we are preparing, as in Berlin this weekend, offer the opportunity to be visible to our community while improving in the organization of these events. While our game is played solo, we decided that teams compete in e-sports. The reason is simple, e-sports games do not work solo, and being multiple adds to the show and the tension. We are the first to launch the Battle Royale's foundations in e-sport, and we are still groping to find the best approach.