Xbox Version of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Is Most Likely A Temporary Exclusive

It was just a matter of time for PlayerUnkown's Battlegrounds to hit consoles in order to expand its player base, given how popular it has been lately. As it happens, the moment has arrived, and after an interview with Eurogamer, rumors about an Xbox One version of Battlegrounds have already started to circulate.

The issue lies in the fact that, while it is obvious that an Xbox One version of Battlegrounds is on the way, it is unclear whether this version will be fully unique to the Xbox One and will not be available on the PlayStation 4.

Naturally, this isn't because we haven't made an effort to learn as much as we can. The manner that Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene and Microsoft talk about Battlegrounds and its purported exclusivity is rather circumspect. All of them have affirmed that it will be available on the Xbox One, but none of them have explicitly said that it won't be available on the PlayStation 4.

First up is Mike Ybarra, corporate vice president of Microsoft's PC and Xbox game division:

When asked whether Battlegrounds was supposedly exclusive to the Xbox One, Ybarra said, "We're publishing it on Xbox and it's a console launch exclusive." You would need to contact Bluehole for any more questions, since we prefer not to respond on behalf of developers. A sizable section of my staff is collaborating with them to optimize it, and Bluehole's exclusive concentration is on the PC and Xbox in order to complete that task.

When asked what it meant to be a console launch exclusive, he simply said, "It's up to Bluehole." It's not us who developed it.

Talking with Greene didn't help either, as he declined to discuss any prospective future collaborations between the PS4 and Battlegrounds:

"No, we simply don't have the bandwidth to work on any other version right now," Greene said. "This is the reason we signed the publishing agreement with Microsoft; Anticto, a group of three or four people in Spain, was handling the Xbox console port. They're recruiting more people today, but we have Microsoft's backing now. We just wish to pay attention to the Windows and Xbox versions.

Sadly, you would be gravely incorrect if you thought Twitter conversation would be any different. Upon being asked again what the ramifications of a console launch exclusivity were, PUBG lead community manager Sammie Kang said, "Yes." This collaboration aims to expedite the release of PUBG to Xbox users by freeing up our development staff to concentrate only on Xbox & PC development.

The only real conclusion that can be drawn from the large number of people who should be able to determine whether Battlegrounds will remain exclusive to the Xbox One is that it won't and a PlayStation 4 version will be coming eventually (much like Rise of the Tomb Raider, which found itself in a similar debacle in 2014). An immensely popular game like Battlegrounds would seem to warrant Microsoft shouting from the rooftops if it were to acquire exclusive rights to it. Its quiet says a lot.

When you consider it, there's really no good reason why the Xbox version of Battlegrounds would be the only one released on a platform; after all, what would Bluehole stand to gain from it? Right now, the PS4 is still the best-selling system, so Bluehole would be wise to take advantage of this and get a piece of the action while it's still favorable. If Microsoft hadn't enticed Bluehole with an incredible offer, neglecting the PS4 would only be detrimental to the game's possibilities.

Of course, there are other problems at hand besides the fact that it won't be exclusive to the Xbox One. Another is that, despite having no good reason to do so, all parties concerned continue to refuse to acknowledge what is happening. It's almost funny to think that if Battlegrounds position on consoles had been verified in any manner, this news would have received significantly less attention. Of course, some might object if it was limited to the Xbox One, but everyone is already furious about something.

Fans of the game may thus anticipate PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds complete release on PC in late 2017 and Battlegrounds Xbox version at some point in the future, while we wait for someone to wise up and just tell us what's going on.

See the interview with Eurogamer in its entirety here.