PUBG Corp. made two big announcements today. A new PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) development studio called Striking Distance is opening in San Ramon, California, and the next PUBG game is currently under development.
Some of this news comes from Striking Distance’s CEO, Glen Schofield, who also revealed the studio’s birth and his role in making it a reality on Twitter.
Schofield is no stranger to starting new studios or taking series in new directions. His background includes co-founding Sledgehammer Games and leading development for Call of Duty: WWII, Modern Warfare 3, and Dead Space. He has also won several awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for his work.
PUBG Corp’s CEO, C.H. Kim, said bringing Schofield on board and creating Striking Distance is part of the company’s overall vision to expand its creative portfolio by developing new international, collaborative teams.
Striking Distance is wasting no time getting a new project off the ground, either. The next PUBG game is already in development, and while Schofield said the process is still in its early days, the game will likely not be a battle royale game.
Instead, Schofield wants to explore the PUBG universe in more depth and suggested in a tweet that the game will be driven by its original narrative.
The move is in keeping with PUBG creator Brendan Greene’s vision for the franchise as well. Earlier this year, Greene told GameIndustry.biz that he had no interest in creating a PUBG sequel. Everyone knows what they want out of the battle royale genre, so the goal is moving on to make something different.
While it doesn’t seem Striking Distance is directly connected to Greene’s Special Projects branch of PUBG Corp., it seems it’s certainly carrying out Greene’s vision nonetheless.
Moreover, it’s a spot of good news for the series after a run of bad international press earlier in the year, when it was banned in Nepal, India, and Iraq.
