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Dr. Disrespect admits that his director was kicked out on the street News Dr. Disrespect admits that his director was kicked out on the street By Olivia Richman Dr. Disrespect returns to Twitch, draws big viewership numbers News Dr. Disrespect returns to Twitch, draws big viewership numbers By M Alzamora Air drop pings now let PUBG players know where crates will land News Air drop pings now let PUBG players know where crates will land By Steven Rondina
Dr. Disrespect issues apology ahead of return to Twitch streaming Apex Legends
Dr. Disrespect issues apology ahead of return to Twitch streaming Jared Wynne Twitch personality Guy “Dr. Disrespect” Beahm revived his personal Twitter account to deliver a formal apology regarding the questionable conduct that got him booted from E3 and banned by Twitch.  He began a brief Twitlonger message by reminding everyone that it was the first IRL — or “in real life” — stream he’s ever done. He went on to explain that the bullish nature of his character caused him to …
PUBG LITE beta test available in South Asia and Latin America News
PUBG LITE beta test available in South Asia and Latin America Olivia Richman The PUBG LITE beta test service is now available in South Asia and Latin America. Players from countries including India, Pakistan, Chile, Columbia, and Peru will not only have access to the beta test, but will also be given rewards for pre-registering. This has been a long-awaited event, according to the official press release from PUBG LITE. The full list of countries that have access to the beta can be found …
PUBG introduces new Survivor Guide with detailed map and weapon info News
PUBG introduces new Survivor Guide with detailed map and weapon info Olivia Richman The PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds development and community teams recently introduced the PUBG Survivor’s Guide.  “Over the past two years, legions of long-time, dedicated fans have dropped onto the Battleground and perfected their strategies to earn that Chicken Dinner. However, it is safe to say that PUBG can sometimes be an intimidating experience for players just starting out,” the official press release said.  To help new players feel more confident in exploring the island …
XQC given surprise ban from PUBG while streaming on Twitch News
XQC given surprise ban from PUBG while streaming on Twitch Steven Rondina Popular streamer Félix “xQc” Lengyel is going to be taking a break from PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. But he won’t be doing so willingly. The former Overwatch League player received a ban from the game in the middle of a stream for mysterious reasons. The moment was clipped by fans on Twitch. The ban came in the middle of a streaming session that featured XQC and a friend playing Zombie Mode custom …
PUBG Nations Cup to see the best players compete for $500,000 News PUBG Nations Cup to see the best players compete for $500,000 By Olivia Richman PUBG cracking down on cheaters, hands out a 100-year ban to hacker News PUBG cracking down on cheaters, hands out a 100-year ban to hacker By Olivia Richman Final PUBG Classic event of 2019 is announced for Thailand News Final PUBG Classic event of 2019 is announced for Thailand By Jared Wynne
China bans the word “kill” from video games as restrictions continue News
China bans the word “kill” from video games as restrictions continue Olivia Richman Blood and gore were officially banned from Chinese video games last month. But a recent update sees the Chinese government getting even stricter on violence depicted in video games.  Previous regulations already required game developers to alter their game before it could be released in China. This included changing in-game blood to a different color to get around anti-blood regulations. But now China has banned anything players might perceive as …
PUBG Mobile implementing new system to fight gaming addiction News
PUBG Mobile implementing new system to fight gaming addiction Olivia Richman PUBG Mobile will soon begin a new a campaign to make players more aware of when they’re potentially playing too much of the popular mobile game. Before PUBG was pulled from Chinese app stores and replaced by Game For Peace, the country had age-locked the software in response to parents complaining that their children were playing PUBG Mobile too much. To better appease parents who feel their children are addicted to …
PUBG done in China, is replaced by lookalike Game for Peace News
PUBG done in China, is replaced by lookalike Game for Peace Steven Rondina PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile is dead in China, but fans of the game have a replacement lined up. Chinese investment conglomerate Tencent Holdings Limited has shut down PUBG Mobile in the country. Instead, the company that handles the brand’s operations in China has rolled out a new battle royale titled Game for Peace that will replace it moving forward. For the most part, Game for Peace is identical to PUBG Mobile. …
Team Liquid win PEL Kick-off Cup, but amateur teams upend pros News
Team Liquid win PEL Kick-off Cup, but amateur teams upend pros Steven Rondina PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds may have an element of randomness to it, but you wouldn’t know it from the results of the PEL’s Kick-off Cup. That’s because Team Liquid crushed the opposition every day during the playoffs, taking the top prize with 173 points. It was an exceptionally strong tally for the event, with the team standing 70 points above second place. Liquid’s lead became almost insurmountable on day one of the …
Pro PUBG player proposes to girlfriend and opponent during tournament Steven Rondina News Digital Athletics may have finished eighth in its group for the Kick-off Cup, but one of its players still managed to come away as the biggest winner of the day. After finishing his sets on day three of the event, Mert “ABeautfulDeath” Ozturk brought girlfriend Zeynep “ritalel” Sualp on stage. Though the couple had been playing against each other earlier in the day, with Ritalel repping We Need a Home …
PUBG hosts Reddit AMA with the official Weapon Mastery team Olivia Richman News Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds’ Weapon Mastery team recently took to Reddit for an AMA about the new progression system they’ve developed.  Weapons Mastery is a brand new progression system that rewards players for becoming experts with their favorite weaponry. Dealing damage and defeating opponents will help players progress through ranked levels with their gun of choice. In the lobby, PUBG players can check out the Mastery tab to keep track of …
PUBG earned a staggering $1 billion in revenue in 2018 Olivia Richman News PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds earned almost $1 billion in revenue last year.  PUBG Corp. recently announced that its flagship battle royale title earned $920 million in revenue in 2018.  In the company’s financial earnings report, it was revealed that PUBG Corp. made $310 million in profit off of that amount. Most of the loot was collected from PC users and digital downloads. This platform earned them $790 million, followed by mobile at $65 …
OP Gaming Rangers win PUBG Global Summit in dramatic fashion Steven Rondina News OP Gaming Rangers are the winners of the FACEIT PUBG Global Summit. The South Korean squad sealed up first place with a dramatic chicken dinner on the final map of the grand finals. The win averted what was shaping up to be an epic collapse for the team and allowed the teary-eyed squad to hoist the 70-pound trophy at the end of the event. OP Gaming Rangers entered the last …
PUBG, Fortnite among video games banned by Iraqi government Steven Rondina News Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds are among a number of video games that have been banned in Iraq. According to CBC, the country’s parliament banned the game “due to the negative effects caused by some electronic games on the health, culture, and security of Iraqi society, including societal and moral threats to children and youth.” Iraq is the second country to ban PUBG this month. The Iraqi government has been devastated in …
PUBG banned in Nepal, labeled as addictive to children and teenagers Steven Rondina News PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has been at the center of a number of controversies, and the latest is one of the most severe yet. According to multiple reports, the popular battle royale title has been made illegal in Nepal. The country’s Metropolitan Crime Division has called for a ban on the game, with an emphasis of getting rid of its mobile port. Additionally, the Nepal Telecommunication Authority has been working to block …
ENCE top PUBG Europe League phase 1, head to FACEIT Global Summit Steven Rondina News The field is now set for the phase one playoffs of the PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds pro circuit. The final day of phase one of PUBG Europe League wrapped up and saw ENCE Esports hoist the trophy as phase one winners. ENCE will head to London for the phase one playoffs at the FACEIT Global Summit: PUBG Classic alongside three other PEL teams. The final week of PEL phase one was a …
PUBG Mobile adds subscription services for daily loot and more Olivia Richman News The popular PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds mobile game has added Prime and Prime Plus subscriptions.  These subscription models are targeted at more avid players who check the game on a daily basis. Players with these subscriptions will receive Unknown Cash, discounted prices on loot crates, and will be enabled to make in-game purchases with Battle Points.  The basic Prime subscription costs 99 cents and offers five Unknown Coins daily. These subscribers will …
PUBG designer Brendan Greene said he is done with battle royales Olivia Richman News PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds designer Brendan Greene is done with battle royales.  “The last man standing concept is great, but I’m done with that. I don’t really intend to make PUBG 2,” Greene told Game Industry Biz.  Based in Amsterdam for the past few months, Greene has instead moved on to PUBG Corp’s new Special Projects division. While no concrete concept has been announced for the team, Greene’s initial announcement said they …
Team Liquid surge in PEL week two while ENCE remains on top Steven Rondina News The European pro circuit for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is shaping up to be the most hotly contested. Week two of the PUBG Europe League has wrapped up and while the rankings didn’t much change, the gap between teams has narrowed considerably. Though ENCE Esports retains its top spot after a strong week one, other squads also had the opportunity to shine. After a drab start to the season, Team Liquid roared …
Sweeping changes to weapons, attachments arrive in PUBG update 27 Steven Rondina News A major balance patch has arrived in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, bringing changes to nearly every firearm in the game. After a week on test servers, Update 27 has arrived to the main client. The update brings sweeping changes to attachments, a slew of balance changes, and a reset to PUBG’s seasonal content. The highlight of the patch is the addition of the MP5K. The new sub-machine gun has been added as …
G2 Esports, ENCE tied for first after PUBG Europe League week one Steven Rondina News At long last, the PUBG Europe League is in full swing. Phase one of the continent’s professional PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds circuit has kicked off with a refreshingly competitive start. At the end of the first week, G2 Esports and ENCE are tied in the top spot with 162 points. Though they hold the lead, they have plenty of competition hot on their heels with Team SoloMid, Team Vitality, Jokers, and Team …

PUBG: Battlegrounds enjoyed an explosive rise and rapid fall that few games can match. But despite being far from its heyday, the game still stands as one of the biggest battle royales on the market.

Initially launching in 2017 as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, PUBG laid the framework for the battle royale genre in many ways. Though competitive survival games weren’t new, mechanics like a shrinking play area and air-dropping into the battlefield were popularized in PUBG. The game also took a comparatively realistic approach to its gameplay mechanics, which set it apart from most popular shooters of the day.

So what actually happened to PUBG? And what’s the future of the game at this point?

PUBG booms, becomes biggest game on Steam

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds first launched on PC in March 2017 in early access.

Despite arriving in a pre-launch state, the game saw rapid growth during the year, averaging six-figure player counts by May 2017 and hitting 1 million concurrent players in September. By the time the game was officially released in December 2017, it was averaging over 1.4 million players. In January 2018 it set the Steam record for most concurrent users for any game at 3,236,027 players. That record stands to this day, despite competition from games like Palworld and Black Myth: Wukong.

Despite hitting uniquely high numbers, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds suffered a precipitous fall in player counts throughout 2018. There were numerous reasons for this, foremost among them being a tidal wave of competitors.

In 2017, Epic Games added a battle royale mode to its Fortnite: Save the World cooperative PvE game. Despite being heavily derivative of PUBG, Fortnite: Battle Royale became the king of the genre and eclipsed PlayerUnknown’s Battelgrounds’ popularity. Alongside this, numerous series created battle royale spin-offs of their own, most notably Call of Duty: Warzone and Apex Legends. Games like Battlefield 5 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive also released their own battle royale modes. On top of all this, PUBG found itself competing with its own spin-offs.

PUBG: Mobile eclipses the popularity of original game

Though PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds reached unseen heights before in PC gaming, its mobile spinoff was actually even bigger.

PUBG: Mobile launched in March 2018. Created jointly by PUBG Studios and LightSpeed Studios, it was a booming success across the world, particularly in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being downloaded over 1.3 billion times as of December 2022.

Unlike Fortnite, which is the same game across multiple platforms, PUBG: Mobile is a fully distinct game from the original PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. While Fortnite allowed for cross-play across all platforms and cross-progress for players who used multiple devices, and the mobile version of the game is on an island of its own.

At their core, the games have a similar look and feel. PUBG: Mobile has some significant gameplay differences, however, with different maps and weapons from those seen in the original PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Not only that, but it has original game modes not found in the PC or console versions of the game.

While there is a schism between fans over which is better, there’s no doubt about which was more popular.

PUBG: Mobile was big enough to have been at the center of numerous media campaigns and government sanctions. The game was banned in both India and Bangladesh, and was forced to rebrand and censor some content in China. This forced the game to be re-released in some regions on multiple occasions.

Despite this, PUBG: Mobile has enjoyed overwhelming commercial success, with publisher Krafton stating it had generated over $9 billion in revenue by the end of 2022.

In 2021, PUBG Studios split from LightSpeed to create its own PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds mobile spin-off. While PUBG: Mobile was still actively maintained and remained popular, PUBG: New State was released in 2021 across all major mobile game stores. PUBG: New State has similar gameplay to its sister titles, but with a cyberpunk coat of paint to its characters and environments.

The release of the game confused fans due to the enduring popularity of PUBG: Mobile and largely similar gameplay. PUBG: New State’s key distinction from PUBG: Mobile was that it was developed internally by PUBG Studios and wouldn’t have any revenue sharing with an external developer or publisher.

In 2022, PUBG: New State was rebranded as New State Mobile. Though the game has a working player base, it has fallen far short of the popularity of PUBG: Mobile.

Free-to-play pivot gives PUBG: Battlegrounds a second wind

From December 2017 to December 2018, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds suffered a decline of more than 68% of its player base. The average player count went from 1.44 million to about 474,000 year-over-year.

This decline continued for some time until January 2022, when the game went free-to-play. This led to a short-lived boom that declined over the following months, before trending upwards in 2023 and 2024. That growth continued into 2025 and in March 2025, PUBG: Battlegrounds hit a concurrent player count of 1,329,605, its best figure since July 2018.

Though the game may not be as popular as it once was, PUBG: Battlegrounds remains one of the biggest competitive games online, and all signs point to it enduring for many years to come.