PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is coming to the Xbox One as a console launch exclusive later this year, and Microsoft recently shared at Gamescom that it would publish the Xbox One version of the game. With this new partnership with game studio Bluehole now in place, the Redmond giant will do its best to help the developer port the much-anticipated battle royale title on its gaming console. Additionally, this technical support means that some of Microsoft’s best in-house tech will be put to good use to improve how the game looks.
Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, PUBG Creative Director Brendan ‘PlayerUnknown’ Greene shared that thanks to Microsoft’s long experience with console shooters, you can expect PUBG to feel great to play with an Xbox controller. More importantly, Greene revealed that Blue hole developers will also be able to leverage the impressive water tech created by Rare Studios for their upcoming pirate game Sea of Thieves (via Wccftech):
There are games like Destiny that really get auto-aim and controllers in an FPS feeling good. And I think that with Microsoft’s help it’s really going to get it feeling like a good shooter on console. We want to give the same experience. We want to PC and Xbox to be identical in terms of the experience you have playing the game.
And another thing is, I was at the Microsoft event last night talking to the Sea of Thieves guys. They said they loved the game, they play it a lot, but, ‘Oh, you’re water.’ I mean, our water is not very good, but Rare has great water tech. They said, ‘We should share some knowledge.’ That’s a great thing about being part of a network of studios. We can get that water tech, essentially for free, and we can share stuff with them. That’s just invaluable, because their water is great. Having that would really finish off our world nicely.
If you didn’t get the chance to try the Sea of Thieves Technical Alpha yet, you can see how great the water looks in the game in the short GIF below. Compared to the overall cartoonish design of the game’s characters, the water looks incredibly photorealistic:
#GreatWater! pic.twitter.com/pdSDGm6d2k
— Sea of Thieves (@SeaOfThieves) August 23, 2017
PUBG is expected to officially launch on Steam before the end of the year, while the Xbox one version will be released first in the Xbox Preview Program. Just like Steam’s Early Access, this will allow Bluehole to “develop the game with the players,” explained Greene. “That’s where our focus is right now, and we just want to make the best version of the game for both of those platforms,” he added.
