Playerunknown's Battlegrounds New Maps Are Still Months From Release; Here's Why

The map in Playerunknown's Battlegrounds isn't like the ones in other shooters. It's a massive, sprawling arena that has several towns, dozens of buildings, terrain features, and even a tunnel system. Developer Bluehole is currently working on two new maps to add to the game, but given this size and complexity, they're still several months from release.

In an interview with Eurogamer, Brendan "Playerunknown" Greene spoke about the difficulties of making new maps for the game, explaining that the studio still doesn't have a planned release date for them. The developer has a long way to go before the next one is playable.

"We're going to explain these maps are still in early development and we're still working on two at the moment," he said. "We're trying to pick one to focus on. But it's still going to take us many months to get it out."

To give perspective on how long it takes Bluehole to create these levels, Greene revealed that it was no easy feat to get the first one up and running. "Maps are not an easy thing to do; the last map took us about six to nine months to get to a really playable state," he explained. "Maps take time. But we're going to be working hard and we're expanding the team so there's no ETA, they'll come when they're ready."

We've seen very little of the new maps; Bluehole has only released two images so far, both showing a desert location. As Greene explained, those screenshots showed a very early prototype of the level. "What people saw in that is what is called 'a beautiful corner,' an area of the map made to show the art director the overall feel the team want to give the map," he stated.

There's a whole lot more from Greene's interview over at Eurogamer; be sure to check it out.

In other Battlegrounds news, the game will have its first big esports tournament next month at Gamescom. It'll have a $350,000 prize pool, and Bluehole is selling special cosmetic items to the public to help fund the tournament. In addition, a big update for the game comes next week that adds dedicated first-person servers.