A bizarre and brilliant new video game is exploding in popularity right now. The game isn't even fully complete - it's available in "early access" on Steam, for $30 - but it's already grossed over $60 million.
It's called "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds," and, on the surface, it looks like a run-of-the-mill shooter.
Bluehole Studios
It's anything but.
The player you see above is just one out of 100 people who are stuck on a deserted island that's rife with weapons. The objective: Be the last person alive when the match ends. You have one life, limited ammo, and can withstand a few bullets at most.
It's an intense, smart, suspenseful game that, frankly, we can't stop playing. There's just one problem at the moment: It's only available on PC.
SideArms4Reason/YouTube
At the beginning of each round of "Battlegrounds," all 100 players parachute down to a deserted island. One person will make it out alive.
But there's good news on the horizon, as the game will head to home game consoles, Business Insider has learned.
"We have a team working already on looking to port it to at least the Xbox [One]," the game's creative director, Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene told us in a recent interview. "We're looking at both consoles of course, but we have no time frame for both."
Since the game is still in "early access" - playable and purchasable, but not complete - it's going to be awhile before "Battlegrounds" makes its way from PC to consoles. But rest assured: It's coming.
"We have no time frame yet exactly on Xbox [One] or PlayStation [4], but we are looking at it," Greene told us.
Bluehole Studios
"Battlegrounds" takes place on a deserted island in a (fictional) ex-Soviet region. It looks like post-apocalypse Russia, basically.
We do, however, have some idea of how far away it might be. Since Greene and his team at Bluehole Studios in Korea are planning to have the PC version completed in the next five months ("or so," says Greene), an Xbox One or PlayStation 4 port (or both!) could be ready by the end of 2017.
"Ports to consoles isn't that hard," Greene said. It's a measure of the game engine that "Battlegrounds" was built with, which is called Unreal Engine 4. It's the software that Greene and his team used to build "Battlegrounds," and it's particularly useful for making a game that will function on several different platforms (PC, consoles, mobile, etc.). "It's a great engine to use for multiplatform," he said.
Maybe most importantly of all, it sounds like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 ports of "Battlegrounds" are already in the works. "We have a great producer and he can manage a lot of stuff," Greene said. "We have the resources to focus on getting the PC version done, but also look at how quickly we can bring it to other platforms."
Bluehold Studios
That's not all that Greene and co. are working on. "We have other game modes we want to add, and there's modding as well down the road," he noted. Lots to look forward to, it sounds like!