In 2017,PlayerUnknown’s Battlegroundsblew the battle royale genre up to a height that was never before seen, but would soon be eclipsed byFortnite. As the genre has grown andFortnitehas become much more than just a shooter, but one of the biggest cultural brands in the world, there seems to be battle royales everywhere. Now, evenTetrisis a battle royale.
But whileApex LegendsandFortnitecontinued to be two of the most talked about games in the genre throughout 2019,PUBGkept chugging along not so secretly remaining one of the most popular games in the world. There are reasonsPlayer Unknown’sBattlegroundsdoesn’t have as much of a mainstream following, and they have to do with where the game originated and howApexandFortnitehave made strives to widen the battle royale audience.
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Currently,PUBGis consistently the third most played game on Steam, not too far behindDota 2. It has remained one of the top games on Steam for years, and while its player base is down year over year since January 2018, the past year has remained pretty steady forPUBG’s player base. And that is just a rough estimate of the players on PC, not counting the platform wherePUBGhas the most players.
PUBG Mobilewas a huge sleeper hit of 2019. The game became the biggestbattle royale game on mobile with over $1 billionin gross revenue, and in June of 2019, it reached over 400 million players with 50 million daily players on iOS and Android. This was largely due to a release in China that skyrocketed the game revenues. China’s ban on video game consoles was ended in 2015, so a large base of mobile game players built up in the country over the years. Appeal to an international market also explains a lot of whyPUBGmay not be getting as much coverage from western media outlets in comparison toForniteandApex Legends.
There is also something tangible about the game that makesPUBGless user friendly and this is one of the main concerns thatForniteand other popular battle royale modes like the one inCall of Duty: Black Ops 4have addressed. From its origin as a mod of military simArma 3,PlayerUnknown’s Battlegroundsis a game that appeals to players with a background in hardcore PC shooters and sims. The early access version of the game that rose to popularity in 2017 was often criticized for how broken the menus and UI were, yetPUBGhas become more user-friendly as the game gets continually updated. The UI is greatly improved, but the game still carries the baggage of its origins, where as competitors can start from the ground up with an approach aimed at growing an audience.
Oddly enough,Fortnitewas also born out of a different game that was also titledFortnite. TheSave the Worldmode that was supposed to be Epic’s latest soon fell by the wayside when it launchedFortniteas the latest battle royale. The game made smart changes, making matches shorter, improving UI, and ditching the bleak, drab aesthetic ofPUBGfor something more kid-friendly and marketable. It worked and being a free game didn’t hurt it either. Now everything, includingcrucial exposition forStar Wars: Rise of theSkywalker,is a part ofFortnite.
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In the meantime,PUBGcontinues to get support and new content. PUBG Corp. is making some big changes and is adding a lot of new content in theupcoming season 6. The biggest addition of Season 6 will be its brand new map desert called Karakin. This map comes with the new Black Zone feature, which is likely a type of Red Zone exclusive to Karakin, tying into what are said to be several interesting new environmental destruction features.
Over the years,PUBGhas continued to update the game, adding new maps and improving the rough edges that were once present in the game. The phone version of the game is one of the most played mobile games of all time, makingFortnite’s lead overPUBGmuch less pronounced in the mobile market. It may not be the most streamed game on Twitch, butPlayerUnknown’s Battlegroundsstill boasts a healthy community in a game that is silently still setting the world on fire.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegroundsis available now on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and mobile devices
