PUBG: Battlegrounds, the PC and console model of the battle royale shooter collection, is making some huge cash following its swap to free-to-play in January, as revealed by developer Krafton’s latest earnings report published Friday.
In keeping with the report, on PC, gross sales have been up 61 p.c 12 months over 12 months to $82.3 million. On console, the gross sales bounce was even greater, growing 124 p.c from the earlier quarter and 274 p.c 12 months over 12 months, 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 Obligation: Warzone, and Apex Legends proved that the free mannequin might be fairly profitable. To provide you an concept of simply how profitable, EA stated this week that Apex Legends, a recreation that has been out for somewhat over three years, has surpassed $2 billion in lifetime internet bookings. And Epic raised $144 million for Ukraine relief from simply two weeks of Fortnite proceeds.
So for Krafton, switching PUBG: Battlegrounds to free-to-play was possible a fairly straightforward choice. And the recognition of PUBG: Cell (which can also be free-to-play) most likely helped; Krafton says that recreation, which has been downloaded greater than 1 billion occasions as of March 2021, earned $307.1 million in income within the first quarter of 2022, a determine that was up 5 p.c 12 months over 12 months.
