There is apparently no battle — royale or otherwise — between PUBG Corp., the developer of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and Epic Games, the studio behind Fortnite, despite the former filing a lawsuit against the latter.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds brought battle royale to the mainstream, but it was Fortnite that elevated the genre to greater heights. Last year, PUBG Corp. sued Epic Games for alleged copyright infringement, due to the similarities between the two games.
The legal action, which was eventually dropped, would have understandably created a rift between the two companies. It looks like that is not the case, according to PUBG Corp. studio director Brian Corrigan.
In an interview with PCGamesN, Corrigan said that there are no hard feelings between PUBG Corp. and Epic Games, even after the lawsuit and the alleged friction due to the competition between PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite.
“People have this idea that there’s some animosity or something with Epic, but they’re one of our best partners, we talk to them all the time!” said Corrigan.
Corrigan explains that PUBG Corp. and Epic Games are learning from each other, such as with PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds‘ adoption of the Battle Pass system, which was started by Fortnite. However, that does not necessarily mean that what works for one game will always work for the other, as he believes that their formula is unique.
“That’s something we understand, and we have to always remember: This PUBG formula is unique, there really is nothing else out there like it,” said Corrigan.
The relationship between PUBG Corp. and Epic Games was already complicated before the copyright infringement allegations. The two companies are part-owned by Tencent, while Bluehole, the parent company of PUBG Corp., has a licensing agreement for Epic Games’ Unreal Engine development tool.
To better challenge the dominance of Fortnite, PUBG Corp. launched the Fix PUBG campaign. It aimed to address the worst bugs and performance problems in the game, which was part of the reason why PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds lost its place at the top of the battle royale genre.
Fortnite, with its world-building features in addition to the battle royale mechanics, stands tall among its competitors. Thankfully, it was not canceled by Epic Games.
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