PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (mobile version), popularly known as PUBG mobile, has beaten all competitors far and wide, to become world’s top earning mobile game. With battle-royale gaming genre gaining popularity among young gamers, PUBG has made its position firm in the mobile gaming market with more than 100 million downloads on Google Play Store.
Tencent, the Chinese company which adapted the South Korean PC version of the game, has reportedly raked more than $146 million in revenue in the month of May. A major part of the revenue comes from the games rebranded Chinese version – Game for Peace. The estimated revenue from the Game for Peace is about $70 million while $76 million is generated from PUBG mobile.
The Chinese version of the game, renamed Game for Peace, was skinned down for its excessive bloodshed and rebranded for the Chinese market. This decision was taken due to strict Chinese rules for video games with violence. Game for Peace, which came out in May, has the same gaming experience except when you slaughter an enemy, there’s no blood. rather that person stands up and waves goodbye before disappearing from the battlefield.
Tencent’s mobile gaming domination
The second place is held by another of Tencent’s game, Honor of Kings, which generated $125 million.
According to Sensor Tower, $43 million of the total was from Android users while $101 million came from iOS users. The game generated $4.8 million per day in the month of May through its In-App purchases which includes skins and other items.
While Fortnite, another battle-royal game, is popular with PC and console users, the revenue of its mobile version (launched in limited countries) aren’t even half of PUBG mobile’s revenue. In May, Fortnite’s total player spending was about $43.3 million.
After limiting the daily play time for its other games, which is one hour for players under 12 and two hours for players from 13-18 years of age, it was speculated that this might affect the overall revenue of the company. But with the figures in, Tencent’s PUBG mobile has proved these speculations wrong and secured a top position in the mobile gaming industry.
