Home Gaming Monthly player count for PUBG is down 82% since launch, and it’s still top three on Steam

Monthly player count for PUBG is down 82% since launch, and it’s still top three on Steam

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PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, once the most played game on Steam, has maintained a shadow of its former player base, but it’s not quite dead either.

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While it makes sense that a game that’s two years old has had a drastic drop-off in terms of player count, it’s still pretty interesting to see how one of the most popular games of the decade is faring in an environment where it’s competing against so many others. Back in 2017, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds arguably started the current trend of battle royale games dominating the industry and while others like H1Z1 certainly brought the idea into the fold, PUBG was the game that got everyone very hot under the collar. At its peak playercount at the start of 2018, PUBG was bringing in a monthly player count of approximately 1,584,886 people all looking to get their hands on a sneaky chicken dinner. Two years down the line and plenty more games offering up an arguably better experience than PUBG, it’s fascinating to see how the players have migrated elsewhere.

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Using data sourced from steamcharts.com, Reddit user u/EightHorsemen worked out that PUBG has experienced a decline of 82% of its peak average monthly player count, the average of the last four weeks being 288,848. Yet what’s perhaps even more shocking is that those numbers aren’t even bad as PUBG is still within the top three games with the highest average monthly player counts. That’s…that’s wild to me. I guess it goes to show how huge PUBG really is. Despite Fortnite dominating the pop culture world and slews of competitors trying to emulate PUBG’s success, it’s one of the most successful games on Steam.

PUBG Inlay

Despite the community being very vocal about things that are wrong with PUBG (the game is still quite messy despite the many patches and updates that have been released) that’s clearly not stopped what appears to be a dedicated fanbase from grinding out those wins every day. I’ve logged many, many hours of PUBG and I sometimes wonder if I should dip my toes back in to see what it’s like now, but then I just click on Apex Legends instead.

Apex has a giant lizard cows. It’s no contest, really.

Last Updated: October 31, 2019

14 Comments

  1. Dresden

    October 31, 2019 at 14:26

    I just click on Destiny 2.

    Reply

  2. Admiral Chief

    October 31, 2019 at 14:39

    82% down….and still top 3.

    That is just astounding to be honest

    Reply

  3. HairyEwok

    October 31, 2019 at 14:39

    I stopped playing due to the amount of updates and the size of each one. They add a new texture to the energy drink can and it’s a 1.5 gig update….. Screw that.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      October 31, 2019 at 14:39

      The latency was a bit of an issue for me, but I still check my favourite PUBG streamers almost every day (YT highlights)

      Reply

  4. Yozzie

    October 31, 2019 at 14:51

    They would have stayed on top of the BR food chain if they only listened to the players asking for the buggy game to be fixed and optimized.

    But what did they get? You guessed it. LOOTBOXES!

    Reply

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