PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds continues to dominate the blogosphere and games industry with news of breaking records, topping Leauge of Legends' views on Twitch and selling over 10 million copies in just five months all while still in early access.
While the Xbox One X launches this fall, its launch lineup is rather sparse after losing Crackdown 3 (for the better) and Sea of Thieves until next year. So it's reassuring to the Xbox community that the ultra-popular battle royale game is coming to the Xbox One S and X, as a confusing exclusive, this fall.
While PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is a pretty decent looking game, it has massive maps, vehicles, and tons of detail throughout, but even PlayerUnknown, aka Brenden Greene, himself has admitted their water tech isn't exactly the best. But apparently, Microsoft' publishing deal (on the Xbox) with Bluehole covers more than just delivering the game to the Xbox community, it appears that Bluehole and Greene are "connected" with other Microsoft Studios, most notably, Rare and by association, their technology.
In an interview with GamesIndustry, Greene talks about meeting a few folks from who suggested they share their tech. This made Greene excited, as Rare's Sea of Thieves has some pretty amazing water tech.
"There are games like Destiny that really get auto-aim and controllers in an FPS feeling good. And I think that with Microsoft’s help it’s really going to get it feeling like a good shooter on a console. We want to give the same experience. We want to PC and Xbox to be identical in terms of the experience you have playing the game."
"And another thing is, I was at the Microsoft event last night talking to the Sea of Thieves guys. They said they loved the game, they play it a lot, but, ‘Oh, you’re water.’ I mean, our water is not very good, but Rare has great water tech. They said, ‘We should share some knowledge.’ That’s a great thing about being part of a network of studios. We can get that water tech, essentially for free, and we can share stuff with them. That’s just invaluable because their water is great. Having that would really finish off our world nicely."
Based on this interview, it feels more like Rare's water tech appearing in Battlegrounds is more of a possibility, than a certainty. I surely wouldn't expect it to appear in the game when Battlegrounds debuts on the Xbox later this fall.
For those wondering what Sea of Thieves water tech can do, here's a gif showing off the tech. While I personally think Uncharted 4 may have an edge, this is still very impressive and miles better than what currently existing PUBG now.
A question does arise from this speculation. If, and I do mean if, PUBG does come to the PlayStation 4, as many expect, and if this Sea of Thieves water tech is eventually used, will it also come in tow when or if it arrives on Sony's console?