Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds inks exclusive content deal with Facebook

Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, the multiplayer survival game that’s been a top-seller on Steam for months, has partnered with Facebook to bring exclusive streaming content to that platform. Videos begin tonight at 7 p.m. PT.

“Just as Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds came out we just started playing it in the office,” Leo Olebe, Facebook’s director of global games partnerships told Polygon. “You might spend 20 minutes hiding behind a rock just to get shot in the head. But it’s just such a blast. ... Just like everybody else, we fell in love with it. ... We reached out [to the developer, Bluehole] and said, ‘Hey is there something cool that we can do together?’”

In Battlegrounds, players parachute onto an abandoned island with little more than the clothes on their back. A Hunger Games-style fight to the death ensues with players going after each other with melee weapons and small arms. The title is still unfinished and being sold as an early access title, but has nevertheless sold over four million copies. The game is expected to be completed late this year.

Facebook has made a big push in recent years to secure video game content to stream on their platform. They’ve worked hard to partner with esports teams and other gaming personalities while also striking deals to integrate their technology with companies like Nvidia and Blizzard. Battlegrounds, Olebe said, was just the next logical extension of bringing the very best in gaming to Facebook.

Bluehole says that the weekly livestreams will highlight different aspect of the Battlegrounds community. Videos will initially be hosted by community managers, and then expand to trusted content creators within their network. Both Facebook and Bluehole declined to go into detail about how the partnership is structured financially.