Brendan Greene, aka PlayerUnknown and the creator of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, has announced the formation of a new independent game studio in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Greene was originally a modder whose experiments with the battle royale genre eventually led to the creation of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. He was later hired by Bluehole to continue developing the game under the newly formed PUBG Studios.
Following the success of PUBG, Bluehole renamed itself Krafton and in 2019 Greene announced he was stepping away from PUBG to work on experimental projects with a small team in Amsterdam.
However, Greene is now leaving the company altogether to form his own independent studio, though Krafton will hold a minority stake in Greene’s new company.
“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,” Greene says in a statement. “Today, I’m excited to take the next step on my journey to create the kind of experience I’ve envisaged for years.”
Greene’s new studio hasn’t revealed its name or what it’s working on, but in 2019 Greene said he’s done with the battle royale genre.
Meanwhile, Krafton is continuing the development of PUBG and a sequel set in the near future called PUBG: New State. Other Krafton studios include Striking Distance Studios, which is working on the horror game The Callisto Protocol from Dead Space creator Glen Schofield, as well as a PUBG animated series from producer Adi Shankar.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.