PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Developer On Microtransactions Debacle: Our Messaging Wasn’t Very Clear

Generally speaking, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has had a lot of goodwill generated ever since its release and its subsequent runaway success. However, a rare recent misstep occurred when the developers decided to announce the implementation of a cosmetic microtransactions based loot crates system. By which I mean there was an uproar at the announcement.

The issue here is that when the game first hit Early Access, creator Brendan Greene promised that there would be no cosmetic items for as long as the game didn’t hit it final release. That is obviously not the case anymore, which is what pisses players off so much.

In a new post, Greene decided to explain the rationale behind the decision. “While our intention was and still is to add the full feature to the game when we move into actual release, we do need to test it prior to launch and at Early Access so that it is stable and ready to be fully introduced to our community,” he wrote on Steam.

“I do understand your concerns about the system, but I feel testing for a sturdy economy on the Steam Marketplace is necessary at this stage and ultimately beneficial for the game. You will still get a fully featured game, with a polished Battle Royale game-mode, a wide variety of weapons and vehicles to play with, stat tracking, ranking and leaderboard systems, 2D and 3D replays and much more.”

I do understand and support his decision here, to be very clear- but at the same time, I also understand why players might be feeling betrayed at how this has turned out. When Greene made a promise to not sell cosmetic items until the game was complete, that should have been a promise he honored in the long run.

On the other hand, I can also see his points about it being necessary for the game to sustain itself, and about it being better for the game in the long run. It’s a messy situation, but it’s also the rare one in which I can say neither party is necessary caught on the wrong foot.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is available now on PC, with an Xbox One release coming later this year.