PUBG Mobile Revenue Grew 83% in March, Surpassing $65 Million as Fortnite Slipped

PUBG Mobile from Tencent just had its best month yet in terms of global player spending. Gross revenue was up 83 percent over February, totaling more than $65 million according to Sensor Tower Store Intelligence estimates, and up 43 percent over its previous best month of January when players spent approximately $45 million in the game.

Fortnite's Loss, PUBG's Gain

This amount was about 81 percent higher than the $36 million spent in rival Fortnite from Epic Games on iOS. Looking at the two titles on the level playing field of the App Store alone, Fortnite's revenue lead over PUBG Mobile closed to its slimmest yet last month, grossing just 29 percent more than the $28 million we estimate Tencent's game made on iOS. PUBG Mobile's iOS revenue grew 53 percent month-over-month in March, while Fortnite's declined by 18 percent.

Subscriptions Come to Battle Royale

PUBG Mobile's sixth season kicked off on March 30, meaning we will see most of its impact on April revenue. Tencent has also launched two in-app subscriptions for PUBG Mobile, Prime and Prime Plus, which went live today and offer recurring bonuses to players at monthly prices of 99 cents and $9.99, respectively. We can look forward to seeing the influence of these new subscription options on player spending over the next 30 days as well.

To date, PUBG Mobile has grossed more than $320 million outside China and amassed an estimated 360 million installs, excluding Android in Tencent's home region.