PUBG in Unreal Engine 4
Henry Lowood defined the term game engine in Debugging Game History: A Critical Lexicon as “[encompassing] the fundamental software components of a computer game… typically [including] program code that defines a game’s essential ‘core’ functions, such as graphics rendering, audio, physics, and artificial intelligence” (203). Lowood goes on to detail the history of the term game engine and the developments using them in the industry, noting when open design came to be. Open design means letting games be easily modded by giving access to the game engine they were made on, also leading to player-/user-generated content (208). This introduction leads to the discussion about the engine PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) is built in.
PUBG is an online multiplayer battle royale developed and published by PUBG Corporation, part of Bluehole. It prides itself with multiple users in one match at the same time with decently realistic graphics and physics. PUBG is able to do this and look this way because it is made in Unreal Engine 4 (UE4), a game engine developed by Epic Games. I personally believe that UE4 is the best engine PUBG could have been made in, except for the fact that PUBG is having to pay royalties to their direct competitor who made Fortnite. I believe this because of UE4's ability to put many players into one game at the same time (PUBG has up to 100 players in a lobby), its robust graphics and physics system (PUBG uses realistic graphics and physics for all the weapons, cars, and environments), and its ease. If anyone were to wonder if something is able to happen in UE4, the answer is yes. UE4 has skyboxes and volumes to create realistic lighting and the ability to easily import detailed models to make environments. Visual effects can also be made such as particles with the two particle systems or post processing effects.
UE4, open to anyone who wants to download it, is used by a lot of game companies in general to create games. It’s a very flexible/reusable engine that has extensibility. Not to mention it’s one of the main two engines to learn game development in. In all, I’m not surprised PUBG was made in UE4 and I expect the rumored PUBG 2 to come out of UE4 (or maybe even UE5) as well. I do not think PUBG would be what it is without having used this engine.
Take a look at PUBG’s gameplay, graphics, and overall use of UE4 in this video about the second newest map, Paramo:
Guins, Raiford, and Henry Lowood, editors. “Game Engine.” Debugging Game History: A Critical Lexicon, The MIT Press, 2016, pp. 203–209.