"There was third-person because in Arma 3 first-person there was a grunting noise I didn't like and I didn't want everyone to play with the grunting noise."
- Greene explains how the mod origins of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds influenced the game's standalone release
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has amassed a huge following and player base since hitting early access just four months back. With a number of new features in development as the team at Bluehole work to bring the game to its full release, Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene sat down with Eurogamer to discuss the past, present, and future of his mod-turned-game, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
One interesting tidbit discussed in the interview explored how the game's origins as a mod for Arma 2 and Arma 3 were ultimately responsible for the game's third-person perspective, despite Greene's admission that battle royale matches are best played in first-person.
"If you look back when I first created the battle royale game mode in Arma 2 it was first-person only, there were no third-person servers. Then, when I moved to Arma 3, there was third-person because in Arma 3 first-person there was a grunting noise I didn't like and I didn't want everyone to play with the grunting noise," he explained. "But battle royale is better in first-person. Well, there's no better, there's different."
Specific first-person servers are one of the features set to arrive in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds in the near future, and Greene says that the small change in perspective alone brings an entirely different experience to a game that has, by some estimates, sold as many as 6 million copies.
"I spectated some rounds in first-person competitions in Arma 3 where two people are in the same bush and they don't see each other, they just walk past each other like ships in the night. You know it's those moments, when you die it feels fairer," said Greene. "There is no difference in skill level, it's just a difference in, I feel, intensity."