Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds will be receiving a new spin-off in 2024, described as an “extraction shooter”.
While we already knew that PUBG Studios was working on a game that was similar to Escape From Tarkov, tentatively given the codename “Project Black Budget”, we didn’t have a release window until now.
As announced by publisher Krafton in their latest financial report, the game is targeting a launch window of the second half of 2024.
The game is described as a “extraction shooter”, and will be available on PC and consoles. According to an earnings report from earlier this year, the game will feature “an ever-changing PvPvE [player vs player vs everyone] open-world and satisfying gameplay” with the aim of making a totally “unpredictable” experience.
First-person shooters have recently been experimenting with using more extraction mechanics, with Call of Duty Warzone adding a DMZ mode that tasks you with completing a set of objectives around the Al Mazrah map rather than just eliminating all other players. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 also plays with the extraction genre in the new Zombies mode, rather than making the mode entirely wave-based.
Hunt: Showdown is another extraction game that has seen a great deal of popularity, primarily due to how it approaches the genre from a different angle when compared to competitors.
With the sheer success of Escape From Tarkov, one of the forebearers of this shooter style, it’s likely that we see more and more games in the genre testing the waters of extraction mechanics, and experimenting with modes that lean into these ideas over the coming years.
In other gaming and battle royale news, Eminem will be joining Fortnite in an upcoming event, with skins based on the rapper also available.