PUBG franchise director Taeseok Jang has reflected on the string of shortcomings in the live-service multiplayer space, including high-profile examples like Concord and Highguard. He said in an interview that he has friends who worked on those games, and has tried to learn lessons from their struggles.
Jang told GamesRadar that it is “really hard to succeed every time,” and for Concord and Highguard, he said he is trying put himself in the developers’ shoes and think, “‘What could I have done better in that situation?'”
He said he would “try to have that perspective, and try to learn from it.”
Concord launched in August 2024 and closed just two weeks later; its developer was shuttered. Highguard, meanwhile, launched in late January 2026 and closed in early March. The game’s developer, Wildlight, shut down operations. There have been numerous other live-service multiplayer games that did not live long, for a variety of reasons.
Jang and PUBG Studios had a recent stumble of their own as well with PUBG: Blindspot, a top-down tactical shooter that closed for good in March this year after its early-access period ran for under two months. Jang said what he took away from this was that it is important to “rapidly prototype in small teams” and gather community feedback during the development process.
PUBG Studios has big plans for PUBG going forward. Jang told IGN that the studio does not view the battle royale game as a “single game” but instead, the developer views it as a “long-term franchise with the goal of becoming a global cultural icon.”
Jang said the studio will try to achieve this, to begin with, by adding new modes to PUBG developed in collaboration with external studios. The team will also look to experiment with user-generated content. Games like Fortnite and Roblox are doing some of these things as well, and a recently spotted job ad at GTA 6 developer Rockstar Games has some believing the open-world crime game could lean into user-generated content as well.
Regarding the new modes from external studios, PUBG is introducing a Payday mode this May, and it brings developer Starbreeze’s popular heist action to the battle royale game. These kinds of modes from external studios are a “key part of expanding the ways players experience the game,” PUBG Studios said.
