PUBG: Battlegrounds, the PC and console model of the battle royale shooter sequence, is making some huge cash following its change to free-to-play in January, as revealed by developer Krafton’s newest earnings report revealed Friday.
In line with the report, on PC, gross sales had been up 61 % yr over yr to $82.3 million. On console, the gross sales soar was even greater, growing 124 % from the earlier quarter and 274 % yr over yr, although Krafton didn’t put a greenback determine behind these will increase. The sport additionally noticed a “almost tripled” enhance in common month-to-month energetic customers from This autumn 2021.
PUBG: Battlegrounds was initially a paid title when it launched on Steam in early entry in 2017, however the outsized monetary success of free-to-play battle royale shooters like Fortnite, Name of Responsibility: Warzone, and Apex Legends proved that the free mannequin could be fairly profitable. To offer you an thought of simply how profitable, EA mentioned this week that Apex Legends, a sport that has been out for somewhat over three years, has surpassed $2 billion in lifetime internet bookings. And Epic raised $144 million for Ukraine reduction from simply two weeks of Fortnite proceeds.
So for Krafton, switching PUBG: Battlegrounds to free-to-play was doubtless a reasonably simple choice. And the recognition of PUBG: Cell (which can be free-to-play) in all probability helped; Krafton says that sport, which has been downloaded greater than 1 billion instances as of March 2021, earned $307.1 million in income within the first quarter of 2022, a determine that was up 5 % yr over yr.
