Despite being eclipsed by other games in the genre, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds still seems to have some life it. PUBG sales were just a few million shy of one billion dollars in 2018.
Korean site Naver Sport is reporting that PUBG earned $920 million in revenue during 2018. These earnings are actually $220 million more than the game earned in 2017.
Of the figure, $790 million comes from PC players, while only $60 million comes from consoles. Mobile players on the other hand only contributed $65 million. As Naver reports, however, Tencent actually publishes the mobile version of PUBG. As such, the report only covers earnings by PUBG Corp. Tencent may likely be making more from the mobile version of the game.
In terms of net profit, PUBG Corp. earned $310 million in profit. The report however doesn’t state if this is higher than their profits from 2017.
Another notable fact: the Asian market counts for 53% of this revenue. Other games such as Fortnite have eclipsed PUBG in the West. However, PUBG is still pretty popular in a number of Asian territories.
PUBG‘s popularity has already gotten it in trouble in some countries. Nepal recently banned the game due to concerns about its addictive nature and its negative impact on children. Meanwhile, Iraq also banned the game, alongside Fortnite, due to concerns about the effects of violent games.
Whether these recent bans, and any other that may surface, will cut into PUBG Corp. profits for this year is yet to be seen. That said, the fact that PUBG continues to sell well, despite competition from other games such as Fortnite and Apex Legends, bodes good things for the game’s future. If anything, its increased profits in the face of competition may actually indicate that not only does PUBG have space to grow, but so does the rest of the battle royale genre.
