PlayerUnknown Productions Unveils Three New Games
PlayerUnknown Productions, formed by the developer behind the iconic game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, has announced three exciting new projects. The first is a free tech demo available on Steam right now, while the second is a survival game slated to begin early access next year. The third title represents the culmination of PlayerUnknown Productions’ efforts thus far.
Brendan Greene, often referred to as PlayerUnknown, is renowned for his role in creating the battle royale genre. The last-man-standing gameplay concept gained popularity through Greene’s mods for DayZ and Arma 3, eventually evolving into a game mode in Sony Online Entertainment’s H1Z1. The true gaming sensation, however, came in 2017 with the launch of PUBG, which not only captured the attention of gamers worldwide but also paved the way for other successful titles such as Fortnite and Apex Legends. Since stepping back from active development of PUBG in 2019 to establish PlayerUnknown Productions, Greene has remained relatively low-key—until now.
During the PC Gaming Show, Greene showcased three distinct projects that the studio is developing and hinted at additional titles in the pipeline. The journey begins with Preface: Undiscovered World, a complimentary tech demo designed to demonstrate the capabilities of the Melba game engine that will drive all of PlayerUnknown Productions’ future games.
"In Preface, players will experience a real-time, Earth-scale world generated by our machine-learning agents directly on their GPUs," Greene explained. "While the digital landscape is still in its early stages, every user who participates and provides feedback will play a crucial role in shaping its development."
The insights gained from Preface: Undiscovered World will inform the next project, Prologue: Go Wayback!, a single-player survival game that incorporates machine learning for terrain generation. Players will need to navigate unpredictable weather conditions as they make their way to a weather station for assistance. The early access release for Prologue: Go Wayback! is planned for the second quarter of 2025, with playtests set to take place before that.
Both Preface: Undiscovered World and Prologue: Go Wayback!, along with another unannounced title, are crucial building blocks leading to the studio’s ultimate ambition: Project Artemis. This grand venture aims to deliver an extensive multiplayer sandbox experience. Greene acknowledges that his vision for Artemis is ambitious, though no specific release window has been established yet. Expect to hear much more from PlayerUnknown Productions in the near future as it continues to unfold its plans.
