PUBG is doing a Fortnite and bringing back its original island map

The original PUBG battle royale map Erangel is returning for a limited-time blast of nostalgia.

Seven years on from the game’s March 2017 debut, the return of Erangel – complete with classic weapon balancing and visuals – follows the temporary return of Fortnite’s original island map at the end of last year.

PUBG came first, of course, and while battle royales had existed before, it was the game to really make the genre explode. Now, it feels like PUBG is nodding back to the game that followed it – Epic Games’ own take, which remains hugely popular.

Erangel Classic will be available in PUBG for just a couple of weeks – 14th to 28th May on PC, and then 23rd May to 6th June on consoles.

Notable features included in the throwback map will comprise “gloomy, melancholic weather”, bench weapons, and a “vintage” UI.

This week, Fortnite’s ex-creative director Donald Mustard defended his former game from criticism – as there was at the time – that Fortnite was just a PUBG clone. “My philosophy is: All video games are all of us just riffing off each other,” Mustard told Game File, noting that his personal inspiration for a battle royale had come from fan-made Minecraft mods. “This to me, is just an evolution of Quake.”