When one looks at the most popular video games of modern times, they generally have all the hallmarks of a multimillion dollar production. Featuring complex storylines, incredible graphics, amazing voice acting, and complicated gaming systems. That is, until you look at one of the best selling video games of all time; PUBG, or Player Unknowns Battle Grounds.
The game is about as simple as they come, having no storyline to speak of, an extremely simple premise, and having virtually no production quality of any kind. It is a messy game, riddles with bugs, and yet somehow manages to continue selling at a breakneck pace. As of February 2018, the game is the most popular available on PC, with no sign of its popularity slowing down. In fact, it seems to only be getting more popular, just like bingo for money games are.
Simplicity Rules
PUBG simply requires that players logon, design a character with extremely limited options, and start a game. The player is then dropped from an aeroplane onto an island with one hundred other players. While falling to the island, the player can direct themselves, via parachute, and select a desired landing zone. And, upon landing, the official game begins.
The player must search around and look for weapons, armour, and health items, which are scattered around the landscape. This means, of course, that a player may well run into another player and die in a fist fight, before even picking up a single gun. As the game progresses more and more players will run into one another, and die in gunfights.
The purpose of the game? Be the last person standing.
Why The Success?
Given that the game is not especially well made, does not have any real outstanding features, and is even mostly put together from unoriginal elements, why has PUBG seen such remarkable success?
It is first important to keep in mind that although PUBG seems simplistic and slightly crude on the surface, that it is in fact deep in many not immediately obvious ways. The focus of the game is on realism, particularly where gunfights are concerned. The guns that players can pick up are extremely detailed in how they operate and function, with the goal of recreating an actual gunfight. This goes for weapon range, stopping power, and even bullet trajectory.
The player character is also realistically designed, particularly in how the character model interacts with the world. The character model can crouch and go prone, which may not seem like much, but offers interesting tactics. A player could, for example, go prone on a rooftop, and sniper other other players. Assuming they have found a long range rifle, and know how best to use it.
Level Playing Field And Realism
The true reason for PUBG succeeding is that it has focused on player skill over all else. Modern multiplayer games rarely do this, offering players instead artificial advantages over one another, in various forms. PUBG has put aside all advantage, and simply offered a realistic, level playing field. This has struck a chord with millions of players worldwide.