While it’s a common refrain that PUBG is now likely to be playing second fiddle to Fortnite for the foreseeable future, it’s easy to forget just how well the original (“original”) battle royale game has done for itself.
PUBG has just released some eye-popping figures about its sales and play stats, which include:
- 50 million copies sold across Xbox One and PC
- 400 million total players have played PUBG
- 227 million play monthly, 87 million play daily
If that math seems a bit funny, that’s because it’s also including figures from the free-to-play PUBG mobile, which has done huge business especially in places in like China, to which PUBG owes a lot of its success.
That 50 million copies sold figure is what I find the most impressive, especially considering it hasn’t tapped the 80 million PS4s on the market yet at all. Yes, it’s true that PUBG is not a full price game, usually selling at around $30 when not on sale, and yet I still think we need to acknowledge that technically, it’s now the fifth best-selling video game ever. Here’s the current list:
- Tetris – 170 million sales
- Minecraft – 144 million
- GTA 5 – 95 million
- Wii Sports – 83 million
- PUBG – 50 million
- Super Mario Bros. (NES) – 40 million
- Mario Kart Wii – 37 million
- Wii Sports Resort - 33 million
- Pokémon Red and Blue – 31 million
- New Super Mario Bros. (DS) – 30 million
And there are a lot of caveats in that list as well. Tetris being number one has always felt weird, as it presumably includes ultra-cheap copies of the game available on a million platforms. The same goes for Minecraft, which is another very cheap title. Wii Sports and Super Mario Bros. were both bundled games with best-selling systems. So really, taking all that into account, PUBG might be the second best-selling game after GTA 5, if you want to look at it that way.
As for the other stats? 227 million monthly/87 million daily players? Those are also impressive, and dwarf Fortnite’s 125 million total players. But the one big difference is literally China. Almost all of this gap can be chalked up to PUBG’s availability in China, and while Fortnite is planned for release there, it isn’t there yet. Fortnite does have PS4, however, though 80 million PS4s does not compare to a potential billion plus potential Chinese players. I will be curious to see how Fortnite’s numbers balloon in the wake of that release.
PUBG may have its issues, and I’m still not a fan of their decision to pursue legal action against Epic and other battle royale games, but there’s no dismissing these figures. PUBG was, and is, a monster.
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