In a financial statement, Krafton, the publisher of PUBG, announced the development of a new game called “Project Black Budget.” The game, which PUBG Studios are developing, will be similar to Escape from Tarkov and Warzone 2 DMZ and focus on extraction-style shooting. The game’s goal is to become famous and help establish the genre.
Information about “Project Black Budget” was initially released in 2022 and labeled as a “PvPvE looter shooter.” Krafton has since offered additional information to differentiate it from games such as Destiny 2 or Outriders, as reported by The Loadout.
Krafton has stated that “Project Black Budget” will offer an ever-changing open-world environment with a mix of PvP and PvE gameplay and satisfying firearm mechanics for an unpredictable and thrilling experience. The game will be available on mobile devices, though no release window has been mentioned. The game will also be available on PC and consoles.
The new game, “Project Black Budget,” is being developed by the same team that brought us the hugely popular PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) – now known as PUBG Studios, previously known as PUBG Corporation. Despite the decline in PUBG’s popularity since its height in 2018, it continues to be a top-played game on Steam.
In an extraction shooter game, players, either individually or as a team, enter a vast open map to exit. The player determines the events between entering and leaving and involves gathering resources and items, completing tasks, and engaging in battles with other players and AI opponents. The objective is to go the map with all collected resources and things when the player feels prepared to do so.
The popularity of extraction shooter games has grown recently, with Escape from Tarkov being one of the most well-known titles. Recently, Activision has joined the trend by releasing its own extraction shooter, DMZ, a component of the Warzone 2.0 battle royale that can be downloaded for free.
In most games of this type, players enter a vast map to escape. They collect resources, accomplish tasks, and engage in battles during their journey. Upon successfully leaving the map, players can keep all the items and resources they have acquired. However, if a player dies, they will lose everything they had gathered.
The multiplayer gaming world is moving towards the extraction shooter style, similar to the past trend of battle royale games. Tarkov was the originator of this style and has since been embraced by games such as Call of Duty’s DMZ. Midnight Society, a game studio owned by Dr. Disrespect, is in the process of creating a new first-person shooter game called Deaddrop that will focus on extraction missions… Shortly, it is predicted that more game developers, publishers, and well-known intellectual properties will follow suit and enter this expanding genre.
According to Krafton’s report, the company initially projected that Project Black Budget, its new game, would be released either in 2024 or 2025. The table presenting Krafton’s project release schedule includes Project Black Budget as one of six “strategic” releases, alongside other games such as Project Gold Rush, which is depicted as a challenging PvPvE sandbox that aims to compete with Fortnite, and the next installment in the Subnautica series. Out of the six strategic releases, Krafton has planned to launch two in 2024 and the rest in 2025.
Furthermore, Krafton, the proprietor of PUBG, has opened its inaugural AAA studio in Canada, named Krafton Montréal Studio. The studio is under the leadership of Patrik Méthé, a former game director from Ubisoft Montréal, and has attracted top talent in the industry, including Benoit Frappier, who was previously the production director on Rainbow Six Extraction, Frédéric Duroc, who served as the assistant game director for the same title, and Martin Paradis, who had a recent role as an advanced gameplay engineer at WB Games Montréal.
According to Krafton’s plans, the company intends to increase its staff by 150 personnel over the next three years, with a focus on essential positions in the areas of animation, programming, and human resources. The studio’s first project will be a video game adaptation of the renowned Korean fantasy novel series, “The Bird that Drinks Tears,” penned by best-selling author Yeong-do Lee.