PlayerUnknown?s Battlegrounds developer Bluehole Inc.’s recent statement on Fortnite‘s Battle Royale raised some eyebrows. The studio took issue with Epic Games’ 100-player PvP mode, stating in a press release that it was concerned about Fortnite possibly “replicating the experience for which PUBG is known.”
Bluehole’s move ended up stirring controversy as many objected to developers claiming ownership of game modes, which has resulted in the studio having to clarify its own press release. Reaching out to PC Gamer, VP and executive producer Changhan Kim said (translated by marketing and events manager, Sammie Kang) that Bluehole’s issue isn’t with the mode itself but with Epic Games who ended up making something very similar to PUBG and it’s particularly troubling for the developer as it uses Epic’s Unreal Engine and pays “a large amount of royalties” to the company. Everyone else that released a battle royale game mode made their own thing, but it was Epic Games that made this game that is similar to us that has similar elements, and that’s the concern, that it was Epic Games.
We use Unreal Engine to develop PUBG, and we pay a large amount of royalties based on the size of our success to Epic Games, and Epic Games always promoted their licensing models [saying] “We want to support the success indie developers”, and [Bluehole is] this indie developer that has been the most succe...