‘PUBG’ Vs ‘Fortnite’: Which Battle Royale is King?

Nothing exists in a vacuum. It is a part of the human condition to wonder what is best, and as such we will always see things compared. Marvel vs DC, Picard vs Kirk, Hemsworth vs Pine vs Pratt vs Evans (I’m on team O’Dowd). And with two massive Battle Royale games in the mix, our collective souls ache to work out which is better: Fortnite: BR, or PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG)?

It obviously comes down to personal preference, and there are all sorts of reasons you might like one over another. So in this piece, we’ll try to compare the two games based on a number of factors — that way you’ll be able to determine where your preferences might lie.

Price and Platform

There are two easy ways we can determine which of these games is better for you right off the bat here. First — are you willing to spend money to play a Battle Royale game?

Tens of millions have, and most of them are happy with their purchase. But if you don’t want to put down any money, then Fortnite: BR is the game for you — it’s free on all platforms, supported instead by microtransactions (for cosmetics only). If you’re happy plonking down $30 USD, you should grab PUBG — if for some reason you decide it’s not the game for you, Fortnite: BR will still be free later.

There’s another thread to factor in though — what platform are you playing on? If you’re playing games on console, Fortnite: BR is again the clear victor — it’s on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and word is they might even be able to battle against one another one day. It now works on mobile, too. PUBG is only available on Xbox at the moment, which removes it as an option if you’re on the PS4. If you’re playing on PC, then the sky’s the limit (as always).

The Original And The Best?

We’re really in the weeds here people. Origins are a tricky subject, because the original variant isn’t always the best. Not many people are playing Dota any more, for example — it’s all DOTA 2 or League of Legends (or one of a million other MOBA variants).

With that said, though, PUBG came first. In fact, Fortnite: BR only exists because Epic Games — having spent five years developing a “Save the World” Player vs Environment (PvE) experience and releasing it to an underwhelming reception — saw the success of PUBG and churned out a clone of it as quickly as they could. PUBG wasn’t the original — before it came H1Z1, and before that was Arma 3‘s Battle Royale mod (and before that the Arma 2 BR mod) — but there’s zero question that Fortnite‘s BR mode only exists because of Bluehole’s success.

Still, Fortnite isn’t a straight clone — in a lot of ways it’s more original than PUBG. PUBG refines the Battle Royale formula that Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene had struck upon back in Arma 2, and so it’s quite similar to the games that came before it — it’s just a lot better. Fortnite steers wildly clear of trying to mimic PUBG’s realistic gameplay formula, and instead strives for an arcadey feeling and varied gameplay. The addition of building means that Fortnite plays very different to PUBG — and it’s very different to every other game in the BR genre as well.

If you prefer sticking with the creator of the genre, then PUBG is the game for you. But if originality to you is about building on the formula, then Fortnite might be up your alley.

*Air Quotes Gesture* “Realism”

This is another point where personal preference is key — it’s the “realistic” vs “arcade” shooter debate! Maybe we can simplify this. Are you a Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare fan, or a Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare fan? As the Call of Duty series progressed, the gameplay got faster, trying to keep up with the skillsets of players and the pace people seemed to want. But when Infinite Warfare launched alongside Modern Warfare Remastered, many people were reminded of how much fun they had with COD4‘s comparatively realistic, methodical playstyle.

PUBG is for those who want a bit of realism. It’s no Arma game, but the ballistics model is a fairly accurate representation of real gunplay. The muted colours, slower pace, and ability to go prone all lend PUBG a certain legitimacy. It’s a very serious style of game as a result, where going for the Chicken Dinner is all about strategic cleverness and pinpoint accuracy. If you want a modern combat military shooter, then PUBG is the game to play.

Fortnite is the arcade shooter, and it’s unashamed about it. You can ride on rockets, pop your glider to gain height quickly, drink armour potions, and generally goof about while working your way towards a Victory Royale.

The building system is relatively immediate, which is obviously unrealistic but also leads to some extremely interesting plays and counterplays. The arcadey shooting can be a pretty big drawback, however. Fortnite features ‘bloom,’ which means when you fire, bullets will hit anywhere inside the crosshair’s radius. It’s a very arcadey shooting model, and if your shooting skills aren’t up to par, it levels the playing field a little by adding luck into the mix — your opponent might be a better shooter than you, but if they get unlucky they will still miss.

If you are a good shooter, however, it can feel extremely unsatisfying to lose because of the bloom. It’s an extra layer of RNG (Random Number Generation) that can rob you of an otherwise well-earned victory. It’s getting better — Epic continues to refine the system — but it will probably never completely leave the game.

For me, that means that if I want to play to win I only play PUBG. Being good at PUBG means managing the RNG factors in the game to get the Chicken Dinner, and it’s clear that good players are able to beat the odds through good play more often than not.

The same is true in Fortnite, but RNG management there means accepting that sometimes you will outshoot someone and lose anyway. Still, if you’re not playing to win then Fortnite is an awesome option — the arcadey nature means you can have a lot of fun just playing in the game space.

Winner Winner

As I’ve said over and over, it comes down to personal preference, but for me PUBG is the better game. I have a banging PC, I have the $30 entry fee, I was a fan of the Arma 2 and Arma 3 mods and so I like the sense of progression.

Most importantly though, I like winning. And I like to feel like I earned my victories myself. But my little brother doesn’t have a good PC — just the PS4 — so if I want to play alongside him, there’s only one real option. And when we play together, it’s like I’m transported back in time, growing up and playing games with him, except now we’re playing Fortnite on separate massive screens. I love that Fortnite provides me with that opportunity, even if it’s not my preferred variant of the genre.

The best game is the one you get the most out of. The one you have the most fun with. It’s pretty awesome that we are as spoiled for choice as we are. PUBG for life though. It’s the game of choice for Ben Simmons, the NBA Rookie of the Year.