Brendan Greene, who was born on March 29, 1976, is also known as PlayerUnknown. He is an Irish video game developer. He is most famous for creating the battle royale video game PUBG: Battlegrounds. In March 2019, he stopped working on the game to start two new companies: PUBG Special Projects and PlayerUnknown Productions.

Career

In 2013, Greene was living in Brazil as a photographer for events and a self-employed website designer. While saving money to buy a plane ticket to return to Ireland, he played video games, especially the open-world survival mod called DayZ for the game Arma 2. He modified the game himself, using the name "PlayerUnknown." After testing a gameplay style where only one player could win, he created a mod in 2013 named DayZ: Battle Royale, inspired by the 2000 Japanese movie Battle Royale.

When Arma 3 was released, Greene began working on a new mod for the game called PlayerUnknown's Battle Royale. This mod used the same last-player-standing concept as DayZ: Battle Royale but added new features, such as an airplane that transported players across a larger map and an online score list.

After DayZ: Battle Royale and PlayerUnknown's Battle Royale became popular, Greene was asked by Sony Online Entertainment to help design a battle royale mode for the game H1Z1. This mode, called Z1 Battle Royale, included similar elements to DayZ: Battle Royale. H1Z1 was released to the public in 2015 with its battle royale mode.

In 2016, H1Z1: King of the Kill attracted the attention of a South Korean company named Krafton. Krafton contacted Greene to help create a new game based on his previous work. Greene moved to South Korea to join Krafton as a game designer and worked on the game that became PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. He described this game as "the final version of my vision."

In March 2019, Greene left PUBG and moved to Amsterdam to start a new project called PUBG Special Projects. His goal was to create and release a series of three games: Preface (already released), Prologue (still being developed), and Artemis.

In December 2019, Greene announced a new game called Prologue through his own studio, PlayerUnknown Productions. The game was described as "an exploration of new technologies and gameplay."

In August 2021, Greene left Krafton but kept his studio, PlayerUnknown Productions, in Amsterdam. He stated that the studio would no longer focus on battle royale games but would instead create more experimental projects. The studio continued working on the Prologue game.

On December 5, 2024, PlayerUnknown Productions released Preface on Steam. The game was described as "an immersive tech demo showcasing Melba," an engine developed by the studio.

Artemis is planned to be "the final version of in-house technology that could support millions of players in large-scale virtual worlds at the same time."