PUBG is going to be releasing on Xbox via the Microsoft Game Preview program on December 12th, marking the first console port of Bluehole’s extraordinarily successful battle royale game. While most titles on the preview program are usually third party games with little actual involvement from Microsoft, reporting from Polygon suggests that PUBG is getting quite a bit more.
PUBG collaborated with The Coalition, makers of Gears of War, for Xbox port. https://t.co/MStZMqr6Hh pic.twitter.com/30YDXeA70r
— Polygon (@Polygon) December 7, 2017
Polygon reports that The Coalition, the Microsoft-owned studio famous for Gears of War: Ultimate Edition and, more recently, Gears of War 4 was very helpful during the development of the Xbox One port. The collaboration suggests that PUBG is getting the red carpet treatment from Microsoft, who seems to be treating it like they would any first-party title.
What specifically The Coalition contributed, in terms of headcount or hours worked, Bihary wasn’t able to say. Nevertheless, its experts were able to lend their knowledge to the team building Battlegrounds to help ease that game onto the Xbox platform. The goal was to always be “enabling them to just focus on what’s important” to make the game fun to play.
Additionally, we heard not too long ago that Microsoft would be sharing the water rendering technology used for Sea of Thieves, letting Bluehole make some adjustments to the quality of PUBG’s water. Little things like this are going to go a long way towards delivering the kind of product that Microsoft is pushing so hard for.
We’ll have to wait and see how good the port actually is when it launches on Xbox next week, but it’s safe to set your expectations a few notches higher now. With PUBG managing to hold onto its extremely fast rise to prominence, its launch on Xbox is the game’s first move towards becoming a permanent fixture to the gaming community, a la World of Warcraft and League of Legends.
