Can PUBG Replace Fortnite As The Highest Grossing Mobile Battle Royale Game?
Battle royale games PUBG Mobile and Fortnite both gained enormous popularity among global players and earned billions of dollars for their developers, Tencent and Epic Games. The pair of rivals have been competing for the top position on the game grossing rank. Let’s check out their battlefields with actual consumer data.
After surpassing Fortnite for the first time ever in January 2019, PUBG remained as one of the biggest competitors of the Epic Games title. According to consumer insights company MAI intelligence, PUBG’s revenue started to escalate since August 2018 after launching new feature “Royale Pass”, while Fortnite’s revenue was slowly declining after the 2018 peak.
PUBG’s primary weapon, “Royale Pass”, is a reward system deprived from the trendy purchasing mode “Battle Pass”, adopted in various well-known games such as “Dota 2” and “League of Legends”. Being assigned a “Royale Pass” each, all players, regardless if they have paid or not, can enjoy the full gaming experience and fight for rewards. Only when the rewards are unlocked, players would have to decide whether to purchase and actually obtain the rewards. Consequently, many players choose not to waste their effort and pay for the unlocked rewards.
Although PUBG’s revenue was slowly catching up with Fortnite with the help of “Royale Pass”, Fortnite’s slight slip of revenue did not last long as shown by MAI intelligence. After the holiday season hangover and with the launch of season 8, revenue of the top-grossing mobile game rebounded in February. PUBG still has a long way to catch up with.
Additionally, the average user spending gap between the two games is significant, contributing to Fortnite’s leading position. According toMAI intelligence, on average, each paying user on Fortnite spends $73.33 in the game, while PUBG’s paying users only spends $59.79 each.
In order to stand out, PUBG might consider further developing its Asian markets. According to MAI intelligence, the two games specializes in different regions. Fortnite reigns in the US and various European countries such as Spain and France, while PUBG predominates a number of Asian countries such as Malaysia and Japan. It is worth noting that the Tencent game has been removed and replaced by “Game For Peace” in China, one of its biggest markets, to comply with the government regulations. The new game is expected to bring sums of revenue to its producer substituting PUBG.
Besides regional expansion, collaborations by PUBG with “Resident Evil” and “Godzilla”, have also proven their worth by the huge popularity among players. More crossover projects of this kind would be effective in helping to attract new players.
About MAI Insights
Measurable AI is your data powerhouse that provides accurate, real-time and actionable consumer insights. By scanning and identifying over 20 Billion actual online spender’s email receipts, Measurable AI transforms them into valuable consumer insights, which updates daily right after the purchases happen.
Cara Lui is a blog-writer specializing in analytical industry trends and new discoveries of Mobile Apps with the assistance of the MAI Insights’ real-time online consumer data panel.
