“Winner winner, chicken dinner,” this is the phrase that greets the winner of a match in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, an idiom with origins from the Great Depression. And you’re twice as likely to be struck by lightning than win your first game of Battlegrounds and see that message.
The closest I’d ever come to that coveted “chicken dinner” was with a squad I’d been randomly matched with, and we managed to be among the last two teams standing with just a boulder and tree between us. In the ensuing melee, my shotgun ran dry after I’d blasted someone before his buddy peppered me with his AK-47. Despite everyone’s valiant efforts, we wouldn’t be enjoying a poultry meal.
This was just one of my experiences playing this new battle royale game by Bluehole Studio and Brendan ‘PlayerUnknown’ Greene that has taken the Internet by storm. Inspired by the 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale, Greene used his experience modifying the ARMA military simulation series by Bohemian Interactive to create one of the most elegantly designed shooters ever made.
Photo courtesy of Bluehole Studio
Here’s how it works: a hundred unarmed players paradrop onto an island. They find weapons, armor and vehicles. As time passes, the play area shrinks, forcing players into the same region of the map. The last person alive wins.
The free fall from an airplane at the start of each match presents a tactical dilemma from the outset. Do you pick a more remote area to land? Or do you take your chances in the central town?
Your fight for survival begins as soon as you land, as a handful of players may have already been punched to death before someone picks up a handgun.
Photo courtesy of Bluehole Studio
The game’s excellent ballistic sound design means you’ll hear the staccato of automatic rifle fire echo across the landscape. The only warning that you’re in someone’s crosshairs is the zip of a bullet, but that means they’ve missed. It’s the bullets you didn’t hear that don’t.
Hiding could increase your chances, but the ever-shrinking battle zone will force you to move eventually. Running across an open field is dangerous, and while using the vehicles beats walking, they’re loud and attract unwanted attention.
Dying early isn’t that painful as it doesn’t take too long to get back into the game. But if you do make it among the last 30, 20 and 10 survivors in a shrinking combat area, Battlegrounds provides some of the greatest gaming highs.
Photo courtesy of Bluehole Studio
The idea of a battle royale isn’t new, as games like The Culling and H1Z1: King of the Kill attest. The Hunger Games books and movies also explore this genre.
What’s also interesting about Battlegrounds’ success is how bland it looks. The only playable island of Erangel is a vaguely Soviet-era eastern-bloc environment, a blend of rolling fields and deciduous forests with tumbledown towns and crumbling infrastructural compounds.
For a game that isn’t even finished, costs US$30 and didn’t have a major marketing campaign, Battlegrounds’ rise is remarkable. In the multi-billion-dollar gaming industry, where major titles are released with budgets that rival Hollywood movies, Battlegrounds instead focused on streamers, pro and semi-pro gamers who stream their lengthy game-playing sessions, usually on Amazon’s Twitch service. Some of these streamers have millions of followers, and it’s this word-of-mouth marketing that has propelled the game to be the most watched content on Twitch.
And it seems to have paid off. Bluehole sold 2 million copies in just five weeks after its March 23 release on Steam’s Early Access. In four months it has sold 6 million units and is among the top-played games on Steam, alongside other games that have had a few years head start.
The growing popularity of Battlegrounds could be due to how accessible it is. For a game that is still in development, it already feels more polished than its competition, and its close community ties will only make it better. Every choice you make matters to your survival, and the thrill of simply outliving 99 other players alone is enticing enough.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a hankering for chicken, and I’d kill for one right now.
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