Today, March 23rd is the first anniversary of
PUBG's launch on Steam Early Access. Within that time,
PUBG has sold over 30 million digital copies on PC and Xbox One. In addition, the game has the distinction of being recognised as the face of the Battle Royale genre. By all accounts, Bluehole Games should be pleased with such impressive results. Unfortunately, their closest competitor is rapidly surpassing them in every way.
According to
Superdata, Epic Games'
Fortnite has already overtaken
PUBG in many success metrics. In the last week of February for example,
Fortnite had 14.0 Million Twitch views compared to
PUBG's 8.7 Million. January's data had
PUBG at 8.5M unique views versus
Fortnite's 6.1M. And that's not all; in February,
Fortnite surpassed
PUBG's total revenue on PC and Console ($126M versus $103). Also, as
Fortnite continues to rise,
PUBG peaked in December when it left Steam Early Access and launched on the Xbox One.
A lot of factors have contributed to
Fortnite's meteoric rise. First of all, its more accessible since its free to play. In comparison
PUBG costs $30. Furthermore, it arrived on consoles in September last year which gave it a crucial one month lead ahead of
PUBG's Xbox One launch. In addition,
Fortnite has an easier learning curve and is more kid friendly thanks to its cartoonish aesthetic.
With AAA publishers like Activision, EA and Ubisoft eager to make games in this emerging genre, it will be interesting to see if Epic Games will still rein supreme at this time next year. Do you think another game will take the crown? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Fortnite: Battle Royale is available on Playstation 4, Xbox One, PC, Mac and Mobile.
PUBG is available on PC, Xbox One and Mobile.