PlayerUnknown Announces Studio Downsizing, End of a Certain Game Development—Is ’PUBG‘ Affected?

"PUBG: Battlegrounds'" creator, PlayerUnknown Productions, has recently announced a massive downsizing effort for its studio, particularly as it faced challenges leading to one game development being canceled.

PlayerUnknown Announces Studio Downsizing

PlayerUnknown Productions announced on its official X account that it has conducted a downsizing effort to recover from its losses, including laying off an unspecified number of employees. The company says the decision was made as a direct response to the significant expenses involved in developing its in-house terrain generation engine called Melba.

Melba is not just a technical backend tool as it is central to PlayerUnknown Productions' entire vision as a studio. Brendan Greene, the founder of the studio, had previously revealed his vision with the Melba engine, including its capabilities to create massive game environments, generating Earth-scale worlds in real time, and more.

Despite the downsizing effort, Greene confirmed that Melba will still continue its development, but it will see a smaller team working on it, along with a potentially smaller budget than before.

PlayerUnknown previously released a technical demo called "Preface: Undiscovered World," which used Melba to create a world that players can explore, showcasing the capabilities of the engine.

PlayerUnknown Ends One Game Development

According to Engadget, PlayerUnknown confirmed that the project that was cut in this downsizing effort is the title called "Prologue: Go Wayback!," a survival roguelike game that had been available in early access on Steam and the Epic Games Store since last year.

For now, Greene claimed that he is looking for ways to refund players for their $20 purchase of the early access pass to the title.

There is some good news. PlayerUnknown is only temporarily shelving the game until the company recovers from its losses, meaning it plans to resume development on it again. However, instead of it being a paid game, Greene claimed that it will be made available to fans and players for free.

Melba also powered "Prologue: Go Wayback!" and the studio used this technology to create its maps, making it the game that would have featured the engine's capabilities in real-world experiences had it pushed through.

Is 'PUBG' Affected by the Latest Downsizing

"PUBG: Battlegrounds" is a game that Greene previously worked on alongside Krafton but has since been sold by the creator to the South Korean publisher, leaving behind its development and maintenance to them.

This means that "PUBG" is not affected by the latest downsizing efforts by Greene and PlayerUnknown Productions, and it is safe from the effects of the company's latest changes.

What remains less clear is the status of "Artemis," PlayerUnknown Productions' other announced project. Melba is also supposed to be a core component of an upcoming massive multiplayer game called "Artemis," but where development stands on that project following the downsizing is unknown as of press time.

Greene did not address the game's status in his announcement, leaving fans of the studio in the dark on whether "Artemis" is still moving forward or if it is also on hold while the team stabilizes.

Originally published on Player One