PUBG: Battlegrounds went free-to-play back in January 2022, a pivot other games have adopted, too, as they look to stay competitive with other free-to-play offerings like Halo Infinite’s multiplayer component and Call of Duty: Warzone. Since then, the game’s been getting continued updates with new content and crossovers added periodically, but this week, we got some insights from Krafton into how the free-to-play transition has impacted the game in terms of its player numbers and revenue.
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Perhaps unsurprisingly given how many other games we’ve seen adopt the free-to-play model, the shift has apparently worked in PUBG’s favor in terms of how many people are playing the game. In the recent revenue report from Krafton shared this week, the company said PUBG boasted more than 80,000 new daily players since January 2022. Average revenue per user has increased as well.
“PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, which is available on PC and consoles, recently celebrated its fifth anniversary,” the PUBG portion of the press release detailing the latest revenue report began. “The game, which transitioned to a free-to-play business model in January 2022, has seen a steady inflow of more than 80,000 new users per day. Accordingly, average revenue per user (ARPU) across all platforms increased more than 20% QoQ. International markets (outside South Korea) drove 94% of the game’s revenue during Q2 2022.”
Those who frequent PUBG’s battlegrounds will know that it’s not the only game in the franchise Krafton has. PUBG Mobile is still apparently doing well with Krafton saying it “ranks second in sales among global mobile games” while New State Mobile’s playtime and play frequency were said to have increased in Q2 2022.
All of those games are ones currently available, but Krafton also mentioned some of its upcoming titles in the same press release. Those include the adaptation of the novel series The Bird That Drinks Tears as well as the horror game The Callisto Protocol. The latter has a release date and is expected to be showcased at Gamescom while the former just recently entered development. Another new game from developer Unknown Worlds will be shown off by Krafton at Gamescom.
