Brendan ‘PlayerUnknown’ Greene Leaves Krafton to Form New Game Studio and IP

Brendan Greene — better known by his handle “PlayerUnknown” — rose to fame as the creator of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG). Now, he is leaving Krafton Game Union to form PlayerUnknown Productions, a new indie studio based out of Amersterdam. Greene intends to branch out from the battle royale formula that PUBG helped popularize.

Krafton will own a minority stake in PlayerUnknown Productions, Greene announced. The South Korean studio, formerly called Bluehole Inc., released PUBG in 2017. Considering that Krafton is now worth a staggering $16.5 billion, investors are likely hoping that Greene can work the same magic for his new studio.

“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 said 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. Again, I’m thankful for everyone at Krafton for supporting my plans, and I’ll have more to reveal more about our project at a later date.”

Greene has actually been distancing himself from Krafton for a while, having left the development of PUBG back in March 2019. But what can we expect from his new independent game studio?

According to Greene, his team wants to create massive open-world games. While that doesn’t seem to describe his upcoming game Prologue, that game’s focus on creating unique and memorable experiences for each player gives us a valuable glimpse into Greene’s future goals.

If you’re a fan of PUBG, don’t worry: Greene’s departure is not slowing development of this popular title. Krafton plans to release a new PUBG-based mobile title this year. Additionally, another PUBG-related game for PC and console, as well as a PUBG survival horror game set 300 years in the future, are expected in 2022.