PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ momentum hasn’t slowed for a second since the game released. It quickly rolled through sales milestones, most recently passing 10 million copies sold, and managed to break Dota 2’s year-long record for most concurrent players on Steam by a couple hundred thousand.
Given that level of popularity, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds developer Bluehole has done some internal restructuring and created a new subsidiary called PUBG Corp. entirely devoted to business development and global operations relating to the game. The developer hopes that its new arrangement will help it cement PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds as an eSport and grow the game as a “true global IP franchise.”
The new department is headed up by Chang Han Kim, the lead developer on Battlegrounds and former VP and executive producer of Bluehole. Woonghee Cho, former CEO of Maui Games and Neowiz’s previous head of business development, joins the team as well to further accelerate the outfit’s business development efforts and global operations management.
As part of those global operations, the Korean developer is looking to expand its international reach through a recently established office in the US and upcoming branches in both Europe and Japan.
“Given Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds’ global success, we want to ensure that we have the operational efficiency that is required to support the game globally,” said Chang Han Kim in a statement. “This new structure allows us to be nimble as we look towards the expansion of strategic business opportunities that include the game’s potential in the eSports sector and the growth of PUBG as a true global IP franchise.”