PUBG Madison Reportedly Working On an Unreal Engine 5 AAA Title Besides Black Budget

In November 2023, PUBG developer Krafton disclosed information about their development of a new project titled Black Budget, slated for release in the second half of 2024, later confirmed by the studio’s Q3 2023 Earnings result.

While Black Budget will serve as a spin-off game from their popular battle royale, the company is reportedly also working on a brand-new AAA shooter using Epic’s Unreal Engine 5. Let’s jump right in and delve into everything known about this project so far.

Information About Unreal Engine 5 AAA Shooter Comes From a Job Listings by PUBG Madison

PUBG Madison, an internal team based in Wisconsin has put out several job listings for positions such as Senior Level Designer, Senior Gameplay Animator, Senior Technical Animator, and a lot more. According to the description of the Level Designer position, this division is developing an exciting new IP that “aims to push the shooter genre forward.”, denoting that it will be an evolution from their previous battle royale-styled title.

While the previously announced Black Budget will be a PUBG-based extraction shooter, this new title is expected to maintain AAA standards while also carrying over certain gameplay elements from Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds. It is also entirely possible that Black Budget and this new IP might co-exist, catering to audiences looking for varied gameplay experiences.

For those unaware, extraction shooters are a relatively new category of shooters encompassing PvPvE elements. Unlike PUBG’s dangerous storms and dynamically shrinking map design, these types of shooters essentially place multiple players in a hostile open-world environment, where they have to loot crucial resources such as weapons, consumables, and other items to ensure their survival. 

They will also have to deal with mini-objectives along the way while facing deadly AI foes apart from hostile players. While the main goal of PUBG is to duke it out with other players and stand out at the number 1 spot to win, extraction shooters such as Escape From Tarkov, Hunt: Showdown, Dark and Darker, and Deep Rock: Galactic take a very different approach to winning the match.

As the name suggests, achieving a triumphant victory means extracting yourself from the environment, dodging or taking out any other players in your way, while also collecting more loot that will eventually help you build a powerful avatar. These games offer extremely detailed weapon customization options, adding a new level of technicality and realism to traditional gameplay elements present in a shooter. 

Judging from all of this, we can expect that the upcoming AAA shooter might presumably have objective-based gameplay mechanics similar to popular titles like The Finals, and Overwatch, distinguishing itself from the other two titles. It might also feature destructible environments for added immersion. While all of this might seem enticing, you must remember that no official information apart from the job listings has been revealed and these plans could change entirely. Please take all of the aforementioned information with a grain of salt.