PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds backtracks on 6-month guarantee but will be complete in 2017

The creator of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Brendan Greene, has backtracked on his guarantee that the hit Early Access shooter would be completed by October, but insists the game will be ready for a full release in 2017.

A statement issued to IBTimes UK and posted on the game's Steam page, was issued in response to quotes published earlier this week on Rock Paper Shotgun, from an interview conducted back in April.

Greene, who also goes by PlayerUnknown, made the initial comments shortly after PUBG's initial release in late March, before its enormous success became apparent and changed things for the team at Bluehole Studio.

"Over the past few months I have done a lot of interviews, and in many of them, I said we hoped to be out of Early Access six months after we first launched.

"I've come to realise that restricting the window to a specific month could hinder us from delivering a fully featured game and/or lead to disappointment within the community if the launch deadline is not met.

"So, we have decided that we are going push the full launch back a bit from the initial six-month timeframe, but want to assure you that we are still planning a full release before the end of Q4 2017."

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is an online battle royal shooter in which up to 100 players battle on a large open map. The safe area of play on the map shrinks over time, forcing players closer to each other as they gather resources to help in the inevitable shoot-outs.

Being an Early Access title means the game was released in a limited, in-progress state at a lower price, and has been built upon ever since with regular updates. It's been an enormous success, selling more than four million copies just three months after launch.

New features such as the ability to host custom games and a zombies mode have been introduced, as well as a litany of tweaks and improvements. Two new maps set in snowy and desert areas are also planned, the latter of which was recently teased with the first screenshots.

At E3 in June Greene, also known as PlayerUnknown, took to the stage at Microsoft's press conference to announced that the game is heading to Xbox One this year, later confirming that a PS4 version is also planned.

"We will continue to push weekly and monthly updates until full launch as we want to ensure that the game we release is the best version possible," Greene continued. "This is why we're giving a launch window rather than an exact date. We hope this makes sense, and appreciate your understanding."

"The amount of support and feedback we have received from our community has been incredible. I want to thank you all for your bug reports, feedback and suggestions. As we continue to fix bugs, improve gameplay and add new content, it's important to for us to deliver you a fully realized and polished Battle Royale experience as we look towards launch."