Shacknews Person of the Year 2017: PlayerUnknown (Brendan Greene)

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds was one of the most important games to launch in 2017. PUBG has been downloaded over 25 million times and sits above Dota 2 and CS:GO at 3 million concurrent Steam players. This gaming juggernaut came from the hard work of PlayerUnknown and Bluehole, Inc. PlayerUnknown, Brendan Greene, had previously created the ARMA DayZ Battle Royale mod and partnered up with Bluehole to create a new game from the ground up using Unreal Engine 4. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds changed the game in 2017 and we are delighted to award PlayerUnknown the title of Shacknews Person of the Year 2017.

In an interview with Brendan Greene at Tokyo Game Show 2017, we asked him how he stays grounded.

"I get told to kill myself on a daily basis. But again, I’ve been on the net since way back when I was using IRC and being an op in channels so I am quite used to this anonymous hate you get. You can’t take it seriously. I like to picture them as spotty fourteen year-olds in their mom’s basement and that helps. Really, because I was involved in music and entertainment for years I got to see the divas. I got to see these guys that kind of got too big for their boots. I hated that and I never want to be that person myself. I think, as well, because I am a little bit older. I am forty-one now. That’s kind of tempered me. I’m quite a simple guy. I try not to let things go to my head because, as I said, I’ve seen other people do it and I don’t like that. So I think that is what keeps me somewhat with my feet on the ground." -Brendan Greene (PlayerUnknown)

We are exctied to award PlayerUnknown (Brendan Greene) the title of Shacknews Person of the Year 2017.

Be sure to keep up with the rest of The Shacknews Awards as we celebrate the Year of the Games: 2017.

Asif Khan

CEO/EIC/EIEIO

Asif Khan is the CEO, EIC, and majority shareholder of Shacknews. He began his career in video game journalism as a freelancer in 2001 for Tendobox.com. Asif is a CPA and was formerly an investment adviser representative. After much success in his own personal investments, he retired from his day job in financial services and is currently focused on new private investments. His favorite PC game of all time is Duke Nukem 3D, and he is an unapologetic fan of most things Nintendo. Asif first frequented the Shack when it was sCary's Shugashack to find all things Quake. When he is not immersed in investments or gaming he is a purveyor of fine electronic music. Asif also has an irrational love of Cleveland sports.