PUBG Mobile Grosses $5 Billion After Generating an Average of $7.4 Million Per Day in 2020

PUBG Mobile from Tencent’s Lightspeed & Quantum Studio has reached $5.1 billion from lifetime player spending following a banner year for the title as it accumulated $2.7 billion in 2020 alone, Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data shows.

Combined with player spending from the Chinese localization of the title, Game For Peace, the game accumulated an average of approximately $704 million in player spending per quarter between Q1 and Q3 2020. In Q4, the title still generated an impressive $555 million, but Q1 2021 looks to be its most lucrative quarter yet, with player spending already hitting $709 million. Overall in 2020, PUBG Mobile generated an average of $7.4 million in spending per day.

Like many mobile games, PUBG Mobile revenue surged last year during the global COVID-19 pandemic, with player spending hitting a record $300 million in March at the height of the first wave of global lockdowns. The title continues to generate significant revenue, accumulating approximately $259 million in January 2021–its third best month ever.

Worldwide Winner

China has been the most lucrative market with its variant of PUBG Mobile, Game For Peace, accumulating $2.8 billion, or 55.4 percent of total revenue on iOS (this analysis does not include revenue from third-party Android stores). Outside of China, PUBG Mobile has picked up $2.3 billion. The United States ranks No. 2 for player spending with 12.7 percent of total revenue, while Japan ranks No. 3 with 4.8 percent.

The App Store makes up the lion’s share of player spending, accumulating 81.6 percent of total revenue. Google Play, meanwhile, accounts for 18.4 percent of spend. Outside of China, however, the App Store accounts for 58.6 percent of revenue, with Google Play representing 41.4 percent.

Industrial Content Creation

PUBG Mobile’s success as the world’s top mobile Battle Royale title can in large part be put down to not just utilizing its blockbuster PC game IP, but for extending beyond those boundaries to become its own game entirely built for a mobile audience. Its use of seasons, in-game events, and licensing deals have helped keep players engaged and spending on the up, and the release of new content is at a scale rarely seen outside of games such as Fortnite from Epic Games and Genshin Impact from miHoYo.