The influence of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds on the gaming industry cannot be denied. The battle royale genre wouldn't be where it is today without PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, which established the game style and a lot of its conventional mechanics before other studios picked up on the idea. Although the original PUBG isn't the star of the battle royale genre anymore, PUBG is still doing well, with its mobile version drawing in billions of dollars and more games in the PUBG universe under development. Like its major rival Fortnite, PUBG also still has the star power to stage major collaborations with famous entertainers, as the upcoming collaboration with Blackpink indicates.
Blackpink is one of the biggest K-pop groups on the market, boasting over 60 million YouTube subscribers. PUBG Mobile once featured a Blackpink song, but the new collaboration adds tons of Blackpink-themed cosmetics and map decorations to PUBG for fans to enjoy. Fortnite loves to collaborate with musicians in similar ways, but PUBG doesn't seem to be jumping on a major Fortnite trend: in-game concerts featuring guest artists and their music. If PUBG has a strong collaboration with Blackpink in mind, it ought to take a page out of Fortnite's book and stage a live concert.
RELATED: New PUBG Feature is Basically Warzone's Gulag
Fortnite loves to put on a show. Specifically, Epic Games really seems to enjoy creating live, limited-time events within Fortnite for fans to experience. Fortnite veterans probably remember when Epic Games staged a dramatic event in which players watched the game's map get destroyed, which led up to Fortnite's rebirth in a major update after a brief outage. In a similar vein, Fortnite frequently hosts live concerts. For instance, Epic Games arranged an extremely successful event with rapper Travis Scott that drew in tons of players and reportedly earned Scott $20 million.
This example and others from Fortnite history go to show that battle royales – and multiplayer online games in general – can be venues for all kinds of experiences developer experimentation. Fortnite fans certainly didn't get into the game expecting to attend concerts, yet Epic Games has come up with all kinds of innovative experiences using Fortnite as a venue. Considering the success of these events, it's surprising Krafton isn't planning anything similar for PUBG when it clearly has a strong working relationship with Blackpink.
RELATED: Fortnite Should Add These Street Fighter Characters Next
PUBG is pulling out the stops in every other way when it comes to the Blackpink collaboration. There's a wide range of cosmetics on the way, plus some major tweaks to the maps celebrating Blackpink's work. If it's going this far to work with Blackpink, it really ought to host a concert too. Putting on a concert in PUBG would send a message to Fortnite and other battle royales that it still has the clout to stage major events. Any new ideas that PUBG could bring to a digital concert might also advance the concept in general. Fortnite got the ball rolling on digital events of this type, but PUBG could help popularize them further by innovating on the idea.
If there's no Blackpink concert in PUBG, it's clear PUBG has missed a major opportunity. That'd be a shame, considering how much the brand is trying to expand. Krafton indicates there's a PUBG sequel in the works, and fans are also well aware of The Callisto Protocol, a sci-fi horror game set in the world of PUBG that should help flesh it out. Anything that Krafton could do to draw positive attention to this burgeoning franchise would help expand the brand. At the very least, Krafton should look to Fortnite's concerts if it ever arranges another collaboration like it has with Blackpink.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
MORE: Fortnite and The Outer Worlds Have a Unique Connection