The PUBG vs Fortnite Drama Continues with Bluehole VP Speaking Out

We recently covered Fortnite's Battle Royale game mode, with Omer providing a solid 20 minute in-depth look at Fortnite's take on the Battle Royale genre. However, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, the current market leader in the genre, was quick to fire some shots at Fortnite. Bluehole VP Chang Han Kim stated "After listening to the growing feedback from our community and reviewing the gameplay for ourselves, we are concerned that Fortnite may be replicating the experience for which PUBG is known."

The irony of this statement was not lost on people, as many quickly pointed out that it could be said PUBG copied H1Z1's King of the Kill game mode. Which, in turn, copied the original DayZ Arma mod. Kim then released a clarification, in an interview with PC Gamer.

So the first thing that I'd like to clarify is that this is not about the battle royale game mode itself. There were other BR gamemodes earlier this year that were released, like last man standing or GTA 5's battle royale game mode, and we never raised an issue, and I think it's great that there's more competition and everyone should be able to create their own battle royale game mode, and it's not about the idea itself, it's about Epic Games, and that wasn't really clear [in the press release]. - Chang Han Kim

The full interview covers many topics, and it seems the initial statement from Bluehole was a tad bit rushed. Epic Games own the Unreal Engine, which many games run off of - Gears of War and PUBG are but two examples. Bluehole pays royalties to Epic Games to use the Unreal Engine and to avoid lawsuits, and with Fortnite coming out, there is a worry among PUBG devs that Epic Games could withhold engine improvements in favor of their own game.

The Fortnite vs PUBG conflict will go on for quite some time, and it remains to be seen exactly what will come out of it. So far, no official talks between the two companies have taken place.