PUBG was released before Fortnite

As a long-time battle royale (BR) enthusiast, few debates get me more fired up than the question of "what was first – PUBG or Fortnite?" While both titles have contributed massively to the genre, there is a clear order to their arrival and evolution. As someone who eagerly followed the earliest days of BR gaming and witnessed its explosive growth in popularity, I‘m here to set the record straight from the perspective of a passionate gamer.

PUBG Ushers in the Reign of Battle Royale

PUBG, short for PlayerUnknown‘s Battlegrounds, was the pioneering BR experience that kicked off the recent craze. Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene was inspired by the 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale to create a multiplayer last man standing format years before he developed PUBG. After working on ARMA 2 and H1Z1 modes that tested some early BR concepts, Greene partnered with Korean developer Bluehole to create the first standalone BR esport – PUBG.

Released in March 2017 on Steam Early Access, the 100 player battle royale captured lightning in a bottle. By September 2017, within 6 months, PUBG had sold over 10 million copies and peaked at over 3 million concurrent players according to Steam Charts. For reference, that was more simultaneous players than juggernauts like CS:GO, Dota 2, or GTA V!

The hardcore shooter gameplay with realistic weapon mechanics, massive open maps, and high stakes cat and mouse format resonated strongly with PC gamers. In my friend group, LAN parties transformed overnight into desperate attempts to squeeze a "chicken dinner" out of PUBG‘s unforgiving battlefield. Victories were exhilarating, while hard fought losses kept us coming back. PUBG swept the 2017 Game Awards, winning Best Multiplayer Game and Best Action Game. Across the industry, every developer took notice of its meteoric success.

Fortnite Capitalizes on the Battle Royale Boom

Epic Games saw the writing on the wall and made a pivotal decision. Their in-development building/crafting/survival game Fortnite quickly pivoted to chase the battle royale hype. In September 2017, just 6 months after PUBG redefined the multiplayer landscape, Fortnite Battle Royale launched as a free to play rival BR on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Leaning heavily into the mainstream appeal of its colorful, cartoonish art style compared to PUBG‘s gritty realism, Fortnite captured a more casual crowd. Its emphasis on building defensive structures also lowered the skill floor compared to PUBG‘s intense gunplay difficulty. Epic supported Fortnite heavily post-launch with frequent content updates like new weapons, map locations, gameplay modes, cosmetics, and seasonal battle passes. All delivered for free thanks to its free-to-play business model compared to PUBG‘s one time purchase.

Fortnite Goes Stratospheric

By early 2018, Fortnite had shattered records with over 3 million simultaneous players and 45 million registered users by March according to Business Insider. Twitch streams, esports tournaments, viral dance videos, and even pro athletes like Ninja and Drake playing together catapulted Fortnite to stratospheric levels of global popularity and cultural significance. As a long time gamer, seeing national news outlets freak out over this "new trend called Fortnite" was wildly surreal. Epic brilliantly rolled out mobile ports and perfected cross-platform profiles, letting players take the cartoony last-man-standing chaos anywhere.

Ongoing Popularity and Legal Disputes

Fortnite undeniably eclipsed PUBG‘s mainstream notoriety and player base thanks to Epic‘s savvy strategy of molding battle royale for a casual audience paired with continuous content updates fueling its relevance. However, PUBG continues to maintain a dedicated player base years later, recently crossing 1 billion total downloads according to their 2022 New State Mobile announcement.

PUBG Corp did attempt legal action in 2018 accusing Fortnite of copyright infringement for supposedly copying PUBG‘s core game design, but ultimately dropped the lawsuit a year later. Having played hundreds of hours of both games in their prime, I understand why Bluehole felt their revolutionary idea was ripped off and monetized by Epic. But the reality is that PUBG popularized the battle royale blueprint, while Fortnite added their own spin that made it more palatable to global masses. Both can coexist and thrive.

PUBG Was First, Fortnite Brought BR to the Masses

So to answer the original question – PUBG pioneered the battle royale genre as we know it today, but Fortnite undeniably shaped its mainstream trajectory for years to come. As someone who was an avid player during their parallel explosions in popularity, I‘ve enjoyed witnessing their continued evolution and impact in their own ways. PUBG expanded into mobile markets and inspired copycats like COD Warzone and Apex Legends. Meanwhile Fortnite experiments with boundary pushing live events, pop culture crossovers that delight fans young and old.

While their player bases and cultural footprint may now differ greatly, never forget that PUBG got there first. Its rough edges and uncompromising realism laid out the last-man-standing formula that so many battle royale titles copy to this day. Fortnite popularized the genre by sanding down difficulty spikes for a younger audience and committing to an unprecedented steady drip feed of game changing updates and content drops. Both titles made a permanent mark for different reasons. I suspect the debate between passionate fans of each game will continue for years to come – but the facts are clear. PUBG won 2017 through pure innovation; Fortnite won 2018 and beyond thanks to accessibility, comfort, and consistency. Much love to both groundbreaking games for the thousands of memories and victories they facilitated over the years. Keep fighting the good fight; I‘ll see you on the battlefields.