PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds to hit 1.0, Xbox One in December

Brendan 'PlayerUnknown' Greene has officially announced that smash-hit battle royale title PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is to launch on the Xbox One this December, shortly before the Windows release of the game leaves Early Access.

Popular despite, or possibly because, of various physics-based glitches, the 100-player shooter PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has been a smash hit for its creator Brendan Greene. Its popularity, though, has directly impacted the launch schedule: In July Greene confirmed that the Early Access title would remain so longer than his originally-planned six-month alpha-to-release development schedule - but that the game would still launch before the end of 2017.

Now, Greene is looking to deliver on that promise: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is to leave Early Access as a fully-fledged 1.0 release in late December, squeaking just under the wire for a Q4 2017 launch, and will also hit the Xbox One console as a timed exclusive from December 12th.

The two releases won't be identical, however. 'We're approaching development on Xbox One with the same community-driven focus that we’ve taken with the game on PC,' explains Greene in a blog post announcing the launch plan. 'As a result, the ultimate battle royale experience that fans play on Xbox One will be slightly different than what players know today on PC. Both versions are being developed at the same time, but they both have their own separate roadmaps. Various Xbox One features and functionality will change and come online over time just like they have on PC, with our goal being to have both versions align to each other as soon as possible.'

Greene describes the planned release as a 'console launch exclusive', suggesting the exclusivity agreement is of a timed nature - meaning that the game could come to Sony's rival PlayStation 4 in due course.