PUBG: Battlegrounds, originally namedPlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, has been successful since it launched in early access in March 2017.PUBGmarked a paradigm shift, ushering in an age of massively successful battle royale games.PUBGwas, ultimately, overtaken by Epic Games’Fortnitebattle royale, in no small part due to an up-front price thatFortnitedid not have. It’s always begged the question: how wouldPUBGperform as a free-to-play game? The answer is extremely well.
PUBG Corp. parent company Krafton has announced thatPUBG: Battlegroundssaw a growth rate of nearly 500% following the launch of thebattle royale into free-to-play. Krafton says that this is a faster growth rate than whenPUBGfirst launched, which is quite understandable givenPUBGtook quite some time to build to its initial success. That just goes to show how important a free-to-play monetization format can be in terms of immediate growth.
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Krafton also says that growth in specific regions has been dramatic. Regions including Eastern Europe and Asia, Southeast Asia, and South America have apparently seen growth rates of around 537%, implying the premium price forPUBGwas inhibitive to key demographics. The free-to-play shift will allow those players to playPUBGafter wanting to, but being unable. And in doing so, will likely bring them intoPUBG’s new monetization systemsin a way just as lucrative as the premium price.
WhilePUBGmay have seen a dramatic increase in players since it launched as a free-to-play game, it has not seen the kind of numbers that it did at launch – or even for years after its launch. According to Steam tracking service SteamDB, concurrent players forPUBGsince the free-to-play changehave topped out around 700,000. That’s a number last regularly seen around August 2019. At its height,PUBGhad over 3 million concurrent players on Steam, which was around January 2018.
Also, whilePUBGdid spike to around 700,000 for a time, those numbers have already started to fall as the free-to-play launch buzz starts to fade.PUBG’s current concurrent player totalsare closer to 500,000. They aren’t dropping rapidly, but they do seem to be shrinking. Prior to the free-to-play launch,PUBGsaw daily concurrent users topping out at around 350,000.
Time will tell ifPUBG: Battlegroundsis able to maintain its new momentum gained from the free-to-play launch. PC isn’t the only platform thatPUBGis on, after all.PUBG’s performance on PS4and Xbox One could be significantly better.PUBGmay not be reclaiming the chicken dinner any time soon, but it clearly has some good years left before it.
PUBG: Battlegroundsis available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
