PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds studio considering cross-play between Xbox One and PC

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) has shaped up to be an unexpected hit in recent months – quickly becoming the success story of Steam's "Early Access" program. The game's simple battle royale mechanics have attracted millions of players since launch, with plans recently announced to launch on Xbox One this fall. The game's Korean development studio, Bluehole, has now shown interest in bridging the gap between platforms through cross-platform play.

Speaking with VG247, PUBG's executive producer Chang Han Kim expressed the studio's interest in multiplayer between the Xbox One and PC versions of the game.

Cross network play between the PC and the console is definitely something we want to do down the road, and we don't anticipate we'll have any technical issues with that.

Continuing, Kim did express some concerns regarding the differences between input methods – and the resulting assists that may be required for a level playing field.

But… when you consider the competitive side of the game, I do feel that there's a balance issue between controllers and keyboard and mouse. That's what's making it difficult for us to do right away. If we're going to allow players to use controllers we need to have the aim assist added in and things like that. We're not going to be supporting it right away, but it's something we'd like to look into later.

Cross-play has been in the news as of late, with both Minecraft and Rocket League rolling out the feature across numerous platforms. Although some controversies are arising, many developers have shown their interest in such features.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is available now on Steam with an Xbox One release planned for later this year, sporting support for the Xbox One X console. Let us know if you'd like to see cross-platform multiplayer for PUBG in the comments.

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Matt Brown

Matt Brown was formerly a Windows Central's Senior Editor, Xbox & PC, at Future. Following over seven years of professional consumer technology and gaming coverage, he’s focused on the world of Microsoft's gaming efforts. You can follow him on Twitter @mattjbrown.