PUBG has performed phenomenally well over the past nine months. The title has went from Early Access into its final stage on the PC. However, the developers have just started polishing the title for the Xbox One family of consoles. The title is now under Microsoft’s Game Preview program where developers get first-hand feedback from its players so that the title would be fully polished at its final release.
With the title performing phenomenally well on the PC, it was a no-brainer for Microsoft to pickup on the success of the title. Being an Xbox One exclusive in the console hemisphere, the title is performing phenomenally well on the Xbox One as well despite its performance issues in its initial release. While Microsoft currently reserves the right to call PUBG a console exclusive title, the developers have looked into other platforms as well. However, due to Sony’s restrictions, Sony wouldn’t allow Bluehole to release the title during its early access. During an interview with Inven Global, a representative from the Bluehole team had a few words to say regarding the Xbox One exclusivity. When asked about a PlayStation launch of the title, he said:
As it’s going to be an exclusive title on Xbox One for some time, we’d like to focus on completing the Xbox One PUBG for now. If we have the opportunity, the final goal would be to launch the title on every platform.Early Access on Steam and Game Preview on Xbox One are like pre-release, so they don’t have a restriction on quality. However, PS is very strict about this. There were cases where a game took 6 months more to launch even when it was already completed. We are still in the stage of learning the console development environment and console gamers’ taste. We need to think about other platforms after evaluating and completing the Xbox One version first.
While this might be some of the steps Sony takes to ensure quality releases for its platform, it definitely has left a hole for Microsoft to explore and take advantage of. However, since consoles aren’t the developer’s morning cup of tea, the developers are looking into understanding the behavior of console players and adapt the game based on their feedback.
Since the developer has explained the situation, the Bluehole should be looking into a PlayStation release once, the title makes its way out of its Early Access stages on the Xbox One. Until then, there’s no word or any hopes for the PlayStation launch date.
