PUBG Mobile Passes $3 Billion In Revenue From Microtransactions

The mobile version of the free-to-play battle royale game PUBG has crossed a new sales milestone. Research firm Sensor Tower reports that the Tencent-developed battle royale game has passed $3 billion in lifetime revenue.

PUBG Mobile has brought in an estimated $1.3 billion so far in 2020--March 2020 was the highest month on record with $270 million alone. This uptick in microtransaction sales is thought to be fueled in part by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is keeping people at home playing more games.

The $3 billion in lifetime microtransaction revenue for PUBG Mobile includes the western game, which is called PUBG Mobile, and the Chinese edition that is called Game For Peace.

Game For Peace is PUBG's biggest edition as it relates to microtransaction sales. The game has generated $1.6 billion in lifetime microtransaction revenue, which is 52 percent of its total. The US is the second biggest single market for PUBG Mobile, followed by Japan.

The iOS edition is the biggest for microtransaction sales, making up 79 percent of total spending, compared to 21 percent on Google Play. More people have the game on Google's store, however, as 65 percent of the 734 million global downloads are on Android compared to 35 percent on iOS.

PUBG Mobile is far and away the biggest mobile game on the planet as it relates to microtransactions. Its $1.2 billion for the first half of 2020 is more that 4X the amount of money that Garena Free Fire made this year ($300 million), and significantly ahead of the game Knives Out ($260 million so far in 2020) and Call of Duty: Mobile ($220 million so far in 2020).

Revenue numbers for Fortnite's mobile edition were not mentioned in Sensor Tower's report.