The Battle Royale That Started It All Has Never Been More Profitable

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, known today as PUBG: Battlegrounds, has never been more profitable, according to publisher Krafton. The South Korean firm won the hearts and minds of core gamers by saving Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks from the dustbin of history and still posted record-breaking profits from its efforts in 2024.

First released in 2017, before going free-to-play in 2022, 2024 saw a truly astonishing peak player count for the fiendishly addictive PUBG, with 890,000 concurrents on Steam alone (thanks, Eurogamer). Player spending in the game reached £556 million, and spinoff Battlegrounds Mobile India saw legions of new players picking it up for the very first time, up 35% in year-on-year sales.

Krafton, unsurprisingly, plans on supporting PUBG well into the future and growing the mobile version player base. It intends to secure a new big franchise IP and has seemingly written a blank cheque for the next Hi-Fi Rush; the future is looking bright for the firm, indeed.