PUBG Creator Eyeing Use Of Blockchain Tech In His Next Ambitious Multiplayer Game

When Brendan Greene (aka PlayerUnknown) left PUBG behind, it was to go off and create something new – as most game developers are inclined to do from time to time. He started a new studio, PlayerUnknown Productions, and begin work on a new open-world project currently named Artemis, (We’re sure the name will change at some point,) a very ambitious massively multiplayer title that requires the creation of its own engine to pull off its lofty goals. This is what he’s been doing since.

During this time, blockchain technology and NFTs have obviously taken hold in the minds of devs as the “next big thing”, often to players' displeasure. It should be said that like a lot of new technology, blockchain could be incredibly useful, particularly in the game space. It’s all about how people use it. So far, it appears to many games that have used blockchain, particularly NFTs, have had more of a negative impact than a positive one. So, when someone like Brendan Greene comes along and states that he’s eyeing blockchain for his next project – even while skirting around saying “NFT”, players figure he’s looking at doing NFTs.

The topic came up for Greene, during an interview on Nathan Brown’s Hit Points, where he addressed the metaverse-like nature of Artemis and the issues that come along with that being so heavily related to blockchain and NFTs. During the interview, he stated, that he’s “just going to do what [he’s] going to do.” He went on to add, “It’s this thing that [they] want to create and it’s going to give people a lot of fun, a lot of pleasure, and a lot of meaningful things to do.” He also stated that it doesn’t matter if it’s called the metaverse, he doesn’t care about what it’s called.

What Greene does care about – according to the interview – is that he feels players should have the ability to “extract value from a digital place”. He feels that players should be able to do things that earn them money, but clarifies that it’s not about advertising for big name companies that already have a lot of money but “some kid called AwesomePickle selling cool skins because he understands what people want”.

Even though Greene didn’t mention NFTs in the interview, people have taken it to infer that’s what he was getting at, or at best, they’re assuming Artemis will be a full blockchain project. Greene addressed this assumption on Twitter, saying that while the company is considering using blockchain, it won’t be the foundation of the game.

Not quite. We’re considering blockchain, or some future evolution of this tech, as a utility within our digital place, not the foundation of it. https://t.co/ZklHxtMI65

— PLAYERUNKNOWN (@PLAYERUNKNOWN) September 28, 2022

While that doesn’t necessarily negate the use of NFTs in Artemis, at least it should mean it won’t be something players have to involve themselves with in order to play. It’s also worth noting that what Greene is describing doesn’t sound that different from games like Second Life, where players have been able to make real-world money through the game's systems by creating whatever they feel like. Perhaps if blockchain were applied to something like that, it wouldn’t be nearly the bane we all think it to be.