A new game from the studio behind PUBG didn’t get a flashy announcement. Instead, a small blurb in Krafton’s latest earnings report reveals work is underway on Project BlackBudget, PUBG Studios’ take on the extraction shooter genre (games like Escape From Tarkov).
In the earnings report, Krafton says they are “challenging ourselves to popularize the extraction shooter genre based on our PUBG production & service experience.” It’ll feature “an ever-changing PvPvE open world and satisfying gunplay that deliver unpredictable and exciting experiences.” And right now, Krafton is open to releasing it on all platforms (PC, Console, Mobile).
Details on Project BlackBudget are slim besides the announcement in this earnings report. All we know for sure is that the game will not release in 2023. Krafton’s game release schedule shows that none of the titles under its “Strategic” category are coming in 2023.
Screenshot: Krafton earnings
This includes six games, five of which are highlighted in the earnings report:
- Project BlackBudget
- The Next Subnautica
- Project Impact (no details given)
- Project GoldRush (action-adventure sandbox game)
- Project Windless (based on The Bird That Drinks Tears, a South Korean fantasy novel)
The extraction shooter genre is still relatively untapped. Escape From Tarkov is the leader here, but we are starting to see other games take a crack at it. Call of Duty has its take called DMZ, but it doesn’t quite have the depth of Tarkov.
Dark and Darker brings the genre to a fantasy setting and has been enjoying quite the following during its playtest. The current playtest was extended until February 16. That game hit a peak of 108,000+ players and has settled to around 70,000-80,000 concurrent players. That puts it around the top 10 most popular games on Steam. So, there’s plenty of untapped potential still in this genre.
We’ll see how big the genre can get. It can definitely chip away at battle royale games’ current grip. I could see something a little more casual than Escape From Tarkov crushing it.