It’s genuinely incredible just how much the gaming landscape has changed over the last year. A space that was once dominated by online first-person shooters and big budget sequels now pales in comparison to the battle royale genre which has since taken the world by storm. The genre has been around for a while now, sure, but PUBG definitely brought it kicking and screaming into the mainstream, offering up an impossibly fun and genuinely tense gameplay experience.
The game dominated headlines week after week, breaking sales records and concurrent player counts. Its rise seemed unstoppable, that is until a quirky crafting/horde mode hybrid decided to get in on the action. Fortnite took what everyone loved about PUBG and made it more accessible and in the process, became the top dog. And while an argument could be made that Fortnite earned its place at the top, there are also many missteps made by its competitor that made it that much more easy.
Tunnel Vision
Mistakes PUBG Committed That Dropped it Below Fortnite
PUBG is, at its very core, a very simple game. It aims to offer up a realistic military shooter with a twist, which positions it at a cut above the rest. At launch there was one map, a few modes which largely did the same thing, and not much else. The game seemed laser-focused on delivering what it thought was the definitive battle royale experience and in the process, blocked out what was happening around it. What it did offer was undoubtedly thrilling though. There are few games that can produce the amount of tension and drama that PUBG can, with player skill and split-second decision making being the key factors for success. Problem is, by providing a very particular experience, the game settled on a very particular audience, one which yearned for the military shooter experiences that had largely died out. For such a particular audience though, PUBG’s was a large one. The game cultivated an anecdotal following, with its core concept being both simple to explain and enticing as all hell.
You can forgive the team for being a little narrow-minded when it came to the game’s scope. There was simply no way they could have known that the game would explode like it did, but once it did, they should have started setting their sights a little higher. A big reason as to why Fortnite has more players is because it appeals to more players by casting a wider net. By including different variations on its core battle royale gameplay, like the rocket launchers-only modes for example, the game seems bigger, more meaty than PUBG. Things are definitely getting better for PUBG in terms of variety, with the team announcing new event modes and a smaller map which mixes up the gameplay. This all seems a little too late, however, and perhaps should have been considered during the very beginning because, as it stands today, Fortnite seems to have a bigger vision for the genre.
Bugs, Bugs, and More Bugs
Mistakes PUBG Committed That Dropped it Below Fortnite
Now I’m going to start this off by saying that neither of these games are perfect. Both Fortnite and PUBG have their fair share of bugs but they are inherently more obvious in a game that aims for realism. PUBG has had some pretty egregious issues over the last year, from game-breaking lag to random and inexplicable deaths. These issues stick out like a sore thumb here because of the slow, tactical nature of the game. It is just so much more frustrating being pulled out of a game you’ve been crawling around in for the last 40 minutes than one like Fortnite where you can jump back into a game with ease. The bugs in PUBG definitely lost it some players, and put off new ones who didn’t want to throw $40 down on a game which was broken. These issues are best exemplified on the Xbox One version of the game which is still, to this day, a real mess.
These bugs frequently lose you the game, and, after persisting for months, become completely tiresome. It’s difficult to be taken seriously as the hottest game in the world when, on the face of it, you don’t seem to be a finished product. PUBG’s version 1.0 was met with even more issues which is pretty unacceptable given that, by comparison, Fortnite is still in Early Access. Fortnite’s free price tag seems to give it some breathing room in terms of jank, day and night difference from the ire that PUBG receives when anything goes wrong.
Cheaters
Mistakes PUBG Committed That Dropped it Below Fortnite
PUBG has seen a lot of issues plague its servers since launch, but none has riled up the player base more than the cheating epidemic which still persists to this day. You see, bugs and issues are annoying all of the time, but there’s some comfort knowing that they are affecting everyone. Dying over and over because someone has hacked the game so they can shoot you through walls though, not okay. PUBG was riddled with these issues a couple of months back, and it’s still not back to normal.
The rampant cheating served as the final straw for a lot of players, leading to a dip in player count back in February of this year. Many have lamented Bluehole’s handling of the matter, with Bloomberg tech reporter Yuji Nakamura calling them out on Twitter while revealing the drop in PC players. Controversies like this seem to have been coming one after the other for PUBG, a stark contrast to Fortnite’s good will among the majority of gamers.
Xbox One Release
Mistakes PUBG Committed That Dropped it Below Fortnite
PUBG is just about as much of a PC game as you can get. The game was always inevitably going to come to consoles due to its success, but its sensibilities seemed to lean more towards the mouse and keyboard than the controller. It came as a surprise when Microsoft announced that the game would be coming to Xbox One exclusively (though as many suspect, a timed one). It did seem like a better fit for the game than for PS4, but when Fortnite was already available on both, why cut off such a large swath of players? This isn’t even the main issue that the console launch garnered, as the game released in a truly atrocious state. The game honestly runs better on mobile than Xbox One, and it doesn’t even have all of the same features. It all just seemed a little premature, giving the impression that PUBG was rushed onto console just to give Microsoft something to say.
Anyone looking to jump into the battle royale phenomenon who only owns a PS4 only has one choice, Fortnite. Let alone the fact that there are a lot more PS4 players than Xbox One, and that the game doesn’t really seem to be ready to be on either anyway. PUBG will undoubtedly come to PS4 eventually, and it will likely be in a much better state than it is in now, but while we wait for that to happen, Fortnite has the upper hand, available to many more players across more platforms.
Accessibility
Mistakes PUBG Committed That Dropped it Below Fortnite
Ultimately, Fortnite managed to exploit PUBG’s more hardcore-focus to instead target a larger proportion of gamers. PUBG is a very difficult game, it is not easy to jump into and there is a very steep learning curve. Fortnite, on the other hand, is almost immediately accessible, appealing to kids and adults equally. PUBG’s lack of accessibility isn’t just tied to its tough as nails and unforgiving design though, it also extends to its price point. Jumping into PUBG carries an entry price of $40, a steep ask for a game which is so daunting on the face of it. It’s very unlikely that a player will just spend that much money to try something out, definitely at the very least not as likely as they are to jump into Fortnite for free.
It would be a really smart move for PUBG to go free-to-play, as surely everyone that was going to buy the game outright has done so already. It would allow people a chance to try the game out, no doubt bringing many over to the game. PUBG is initially incredibly daunting but at the same time completely compelling. Its simple yet rewarding gameplay loop is enough in itself to encourage more players to jump ship, especially if the monetary barrier of entry was removed. In fairness, Bluehole never really had the chance to evaluate their pricing model, with Fortnite benefiting from coming second and being allowed to take more risks.
When it comes down to it, PUBG has definitely made some mistakes but mostly, it has been at a constant disadvantage by being the first out of the gate. Fortnite had nothing to lose by experimenting with a battle royale mode, but the devs have definitely done a great job at creating a quality product. The incremental improvements which PUBG seems to be implementing each month are perhaps not enough to turn the tides, but fun additions like the new map and custom game modes definitely give the impression that they are learning from their mistakes.
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