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PUBG creator Brendan 'PlayerUnknown' Greene says he's "so very proud" of the developers behind Prologue: Go Wayback as the survival game gets its final update and becomes free for everyone, despite his sadness that "we couldn't finish the journey we began together."
At the start of the month, Greene announced that development was being "halted" on his "realistic Minecraft" survival game, with restructuring taking place at his studio, PlayerUnknown Productions, as he had "reached the limits of how far I can continue to fund this journey in its current form." Then, earlier this week, Prologue: Go Wayback was taken out of early access on Steam with one final update – it's now also free to download and keep, and players who already spent money can request a refund for a limited time.
"The games industry has been in a tough spot for a while, and we're not alone in the struggle to find funding," Greene writes in a new statement shared to Twitter today. "I'm privileged to have had the choice to keep the studio's lights on by myself, and I'm very aware that it's a luxury few developers have when they go independent. I could only do that for so long, and now we must move forward with a smaller team while finding the right partners for the project."
He's full of thanks for the dev team "for their professionalism," noting that this "was not an easy decision to take." Even so, the team persisted "despite the challenges and uncertainty we faced this past year," and as Prologue: Go Wayback goes free, "I'm so very proud of what our team accomplished and truly regret we couldn't finish the journey we began together."
Hi everybody,The games industry has been in a tough spot for a while, and we’re not alone in the struggle to find funding. I'm privileged to have had the choice to keep the studio's lights on by myself, and I'm very aware that it's a luxury few developers have when they go… pic.twitter.com/xaq9TvT9wPJune 19, 2026
Greene says, "I hope everyone will enjoy exploring the wildernesses of [Prologue: Go Wayback] as much as I have (400+ hours & still counting)," and notes that the studio's progress on its Melba technology – which the devs are still working on, albeit with a smaller team – "inspires me daily." He adds: "I love what we have achieved and built as a team. Nearly every day on the studio's Slack channels, the team posted something that filled me with hope, inspiration and excitement about the vision we are building across our projects."
He's also grateful for the Go Wayback fanbase, noting that players' suggestions have "helped us build a game of which I'm immensely proud."
Prologue: Go Wayback only launched into early access in November last year, so it's a real shame to see its journey come to an end quite so soon – even more so when it's having a clear impact on the devs behind it. The devs previously stated that "we hope the studio can return to Go Wayback at a future point in time," so perhaps one day, PlayerUnknown Productions might be able to see through what it wanted to.
Be sure to take a look at our list of new games for 2026 and beyond to see what releases are around the corner.
