The Battle Royale inspired multiplayer shooter PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS is going to have a key & crate economy (similar to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Team Fortress 2) according to an interview with the game's creator over at Gamasutra.
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS is an online multiplayer shooter where one hundred players are airdropped onto an island in a last-man-standing style of gameplay. Queueing by themselves, as a duo, or as a team, players of PUBG will try to track down weapons and supplies and kill all of their opponents. Throughout the course of the game, the playable area of the map gradually shrinks which forces constant movement and encourages conflict.
Speaking to Gamasutra, PUBG's creator Brendan Greene bluntly stated that he would "like to own an island someday" (and with the game having already sold over 2 million copies, he's well on his way). However, he also stated a reluctance to have any kind of system in the game that encouraged gambling. Despite the issues with gambling that was pervasive in titles such as CS:GO, Mr. Greene still believes that a "random skins in crates" monetization model can be a good thing.
"I don't want to encourage gambling. I'm very happy now Steam has put it in their terms that 'you cannot use this for gambling,' but I still believe the skin economy is a good thing to have in a game. Because it's monetization for us, but it also creates an economy for clothing items."Current players of the game need not worry; any plans for monetization of this sort won't be deployed until the game exits Early Access. Brendan Greene stated that players might be able to open a crate with a skin worth "£10 or $20" if you're particularly lucky. If you'd like to see the full interview Gamasutra did with Brendan Greene, you can watch the VOD over on the website's Twitch channel.
If you haven't yet checked out PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS, you can grab it for yourself over on Steam for $29.99 or at other sites like Green Man Gaming (affiliate link). You also might want to have a look at our Preview of the game.
Have you had a chance to play PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS? What do you think of the game overall? Do you think a key & crate skin economy will be a good feature for the game or would you rather they incorporate monetization in some other fashion? Let us know in the comments below!
