Both mobile games and the battle royale trains are still going full force, it seems. According to the gaming market analyst firm Sensor Tower, the Tencent-made PUBG Mobile has made more than $3.5 billion in revenue from micro-transactions. In August alone, the game generated $221 million in revenue for the company. First launched just two years ago, PUBG Mobile has been downloaded almost 200 million times so far.
Meanwhile, Statista estimated that up to July this year PUBG on the “hardcore” platforms — PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC — in total has sold over 70 million units worldwide. The number had jumped from 50 million units back in June 2018. And if we multiply it by $30, we can assume PUBG on consoles and PC has made around $2.1 billion. Of course, that is still not counting how much more money Krafton and PUBG Corporation made from the season passes like the currently-running ‘Survivor Pass: Payback’.
Although PUBG Mobile is leading the mobile battle royale market, it is not the only popular title for people who wants to play on the go. Most of Asian and Latin American mobile gamers, for example, prefer to play Garena Free Fire. While Japan battle royale fanbase is enamored by Knives Out, a title made by another Chinese-based game company NetEase. The game even enlisted the help of Battle Royale movie creator Kenta Fukasaku for one of its expansion and did many crossovers with well-known Japanese IPs such as Attack on Titan, Evangelion, Tokyo Ghoul, and The King of Fighters. And obviously there is Fortnite as well. Although the game has been banned from Google Play and Apple App Store for breaching both storefronts’ Terms of Service.
Have you played PUBG Mobile and bought its micro-transactions? Tell us what you think of the game’s global massive success by dropping by in the comments below.