PUBG Mobile sees global revenue gain of $1.3 bn; India tops download chart

Google Play accounts for the lion's share of downloads, at 65% of all installs

Battle Royale title game PUBG Mobile has seen a global revenue gain of $1.3 billion (roughly Rs 9,731 crore) in the first half of this year, bringing its lifetime collection to $3 billion (nearly Rs 22,457 crore) with the highest number of downloads in India which ranks at the top with 175 million installs.

With people staying home owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns, the PUBG revenues hit a record high of $270 million (around Rs 2,021 crore) in March, reveals data from analytics firm Sensor Tower. PUBG is not banned in India as it is not entirely Chinese. The game has been created and managed by Bluehole which is a South Korean organisation.

After PUBG became popular, Tencent -- a Chinese conglomerate -- joined hands with Bluehole to market the product in China and started handling a large portion of its distribution. The game is distributed in India by Tencent Holdings. The game did not feature in the banned list due to its mixed ownership, since it's not entirely Chinese.

According to Sensor Tower data, in 2020, while the Garena offering collected over $300 million (roughly Rs. 2,245 crore), Knives Out from NetEase generated over $260 million (roughly Rs. 1,946 crore) in revenue.

Following them is Activision's Call of Duty: Mobile that turned in a revenue of $220 million (around Rs 1,646 crore).

Google Play accounts for the lion's share of downloads, at 65 per cent of all installs, while the App Store represents 35 per cent of the total. PUBG Mobile, thanks to the release of 'Game For Peace' in China, has been a wild success internationally.