PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, or PUBG, can be credited with really kickstarting interest in the battle royale craze, directly influencing the likes of Call of Duty: Warzone and Fortnite. And while it may not be quite as big as it once was, the original PUBG battle royale remains popular, and soon it seems fans will have some fresh experiences in the PUBG universe to look forward to playing.
Krafton CEO Kim Chang-Han recently spoke to Bloomberg about the future of the PUBG franchise, insisting that Krafton wasn't looking to be a "one hit wonder." While it remains to be seen if future PUBG video game projects will be able to replicate the success of the original, Chang-Han alluded to a new PUBG mobile battle royale game that is supposedly in development for release later in 2021. How this may impact or be different than the existing PUBG Mobile game remains to be seen, but fans should find out more information in the coming months.
Chang-Han also pointed to a "PUBG-related" game coming in 2022 that is aiming for release on PC and home consoles. Chang-Han didn't specify the genre of this game, so it's possible that it won't be a battle royale. After all, the company has already started experimenting with PUBG-related games that aren't battle royales, with one such previously announced game also set for release at some point in 2022.
A new PUBG universe game was announced at The Game Awards 2020 in the form of The Callisto Protocol. A sci-fi survival-horror game serving as a spiritual successor to the Dead Space franchise, The Callisto Protocol is in development by Glen Schofield and Striking Distance. How exactly Callisto Protocol ties into PUBG remains to be seen, but it should become more obvious once the new game is out in 2022.
The Callisto Protocol is proof that the developers are willing to experiment when it comes to the PUBG universe. Whereas the core PUBG game is a large-scale multiplayer battle royale game, The Callisto Protocol is a single-player horror game. Considering this, the other PUBG universe game in 2022 could be just about anything, and so it will be interesting to see what the developers come up with.
In the meantime, the original PUBG game is still getting new updates on a regular basis that are keeping players busy, and fans have the new PUBG mobile game to look forward to later this year, with more information to come.
Source: Bloomberg