Most big selling video games aren’t all that surprising. Launch titles, AAA experiences, massive marketing pushes, all of these things can help a game achieve huge sales numbers, even if the quality isn’t all that high. Then there are the smaller, usually indie games, like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, where they’re just so much fun that everyone can’t stop talking about it. This has helped the game build up a massive audience mostly through streaming and word-of-mouth. This audience has grown over the last few months and now reached a massive new milestone, with PUBG selling 10 million units just through Steam Early Access.
Selling 10 million copies would be an achievement for any game, but for an indie title that is only available on PC, and isn’t even fully released yet is pretty crazy. But it shows that there was immense demand for this type of experience and AAA developers simply weren’t providing it. It’s also clear that players are engaged with the game, as it has recently shattered records for concurrent players.
PUBG is a battle royale style shooter where up to a hundred players enter a map with nothing but the clothes on their back. They’ll rush through towns, villages, and open areas trying to survive and scavenge weapons and supplies. Only one player or one team will come out victorious though, making for a tense experience from start, to usually too early finish.
“It is amazing and gratifying to see the love and support the passionate fans have shown to PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS,” stated Chang Han Kim, Vice President and Executive Producer for Bluehole. “Watching the thrilling moments during the PUBG Invitational with the great feedback from viewers is a realization of the continuing popularity of PUBG and our team is working diligently to bring a solid gameplay experience for full launch on the PC and Xbox One Game Preview versions later this year.”
PUBG is available only on PC at the moment, but an Xbox One version is planned for release in the future.
