PUBG Becomes the Second Most-Grossing Mobile Game in April

While Epic still fights with Apple over Fortnite, its biggest rival benefits from it. PUBG, another one from the Big Three Battle Royals games on mobile platforms (where the lack of APEX Legends have been recompensed by Garena Free Fire), made $237 million in April 2021 alone. In May, it will obviously cross the landmark of $1B revenue.

The game is equally popular on iOS and Android, though the environment differs seriously. On both platforms, PUBG reached Top 10 of the month, but it had different rival. On iOS, it’s only surpassed by Honor of Kings, a MOBA by Tencent (its success will be even more impressive if we add its international version named Arena of Valor, as so far the chart only counts the Chinese version, playable in China, Taiwan, and Thailand). On Android, PUBG is the tenth, under Garena Free Fire – and a lot of casual games, including Candy Crush Saga and Coin Master. On both platforms, the main contributor is Mainland China, providing about 60% of all the payments. The second place is held by players from the USA, responsible for just 11%.

If you compare the overall chart and those on Android and iOS, you will notice that numbers from Google Play have a much less impact on the summary than those from App Store. Apple users generate much more revenue for mobile gaming industry, so no wonder Epic won’t let go, while PUBG keeps delivering. Placing bets on low-budget devices also pays, as you see from Garena Free Fire’s position: nearly topping the charts on Android, it doesn’t reach the Top 10 at all on iOS, finishing the tenth in the overall chart.

Among other competitors we’d highlight Uma Musume Pretty Derby that have debuted in March 2021, as well as still popular Genshin Impact… hey, Word, the game is popular enough not to think I meant Gershwin! So, will we once live in the world where PUBG is more popular than pubs?