Abu dhabi: BRIDGE Summit 2025, the world’s largest debut media event, featured a compelling address from Brandan Greene, the creator of one of the most successful video games in history, as he called for a bold reimagining of the internet in 3D. Greene, renowned globally as ‘PlayerUnknown’ and the pioneer of the Battle Royale gaming genre, emphasized the need to construct an ‘open, shared, human-scale layer’ that prioritizes trust, creativity, and human connection online.
According to Emirates News Agency, Greene highlighted that the future evolution of the internet should transcend mere content consumption and focus on fostering human interactions. Reflecting on the massive influence of PUBG, which has become one of the top five most played games ever, generating over $25 billion in revenue, Greene noted that the numbers matter less than what they reveal about human desires: ‘People don’t just want content. They want each other. They want agency, shared stories, a world big enough for creativity and connection to thrive.’
Greene challenged the audience by questioning the future of the internet, urging them to consider whether they are willing to rebuild it in a 3D format and free it from existing constraints. He described the metaverse as ‘the internet, but in 3D,’ emphasizing that current attempts often misinterpret how people want to engage. ‘We’ve seen islands of digital theme parks built to contain and entertain – but they miss a fundamental aspect of human behaviour. We don’t want to be locked inside theme parks. we want spaces that represent the openness and unpredictability of real life.’
He outlined his vision to create ‘a place big enough for everyone’s imagination’ through a global, persistent, open 3D internet layer. During his talk, Greene detailed a three-phase plan by PlayerUnknown Productions, starting with a system capable of generating entire virtual planets on a single Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). This would be followed by a new network protocol to support millions of simultaneous players. Importantly, Greene emphasized that the future should not be monopolized by any single company but should be a shared digital infrastructure for humanity.
Greene further detailed his current work, supported by a team of 65 experts, including astrophysicists, ML researchers, engineers, and world designers. They are deploying breakthrough terrain-generation technology in real time, with their first game, “go way back,” offering an early glimpse of their vision. ‘We are not building another game, but a foundational layer of a connected 3D internet,’ Greene explained.
In his closing remarks, Greene called on creators, technologists, policymakers, and institutions to join in realizing this vision, aligning with the UAE’s reputation for championing bold ambitions. ‘We are seeking partners who believe the next layer of the Internet must belong to everyone-open, shared, and built for human connection. Today I’m asking you to dream with us, to build something human, something open.’
The session was part of an extensive 300+ session program at BRIDGE Summit 2025, developed under the mandate of BRIDGE Alliance, and taking place from December 8 to 10 at ADNEC in Abu Dhabi.