PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is one of the most well-known shooters and a co-founder of the battle royale genre. Currently, however, the version adapted for smartphones, PUBG Mobile, is particularly impressive. However, the mobile game was created in just 4 months and has since been downloaded more than 600 million times.
What is special about PUBG Mobile? After the success of PUBG on PC, the Chinese tech giant Tencent decided in 2017 to create a mobile version. In China and generally in the Asian region, smartphones are prevalent in gaming.
To quickly participate in the growing market of battle royale titles, PUBG Mobile was implemented by the developer Lightspeed & Quantum Studios in just 4 months. Tencent’s director Rick Li reported this to the Polygon website, where he also spoke about the hurdles in the porting process.
The time invested has paid off. PUBG Mobile is incredibly successful, especially in China and India. According to Sensor Tower, the game is expected to generate a revenue of 1.5 billion dollars by the end of 2019.
The team learned skills of 2-3 years in just 2-3 months
How was the development of PUBG Mobile? During the development, there were many technical challenges that needed to be overcome to develop PUBG into a mobile version.
The team worked in such a way that it was initially optimized for high-end devices. Then, the necessary requirements were gradually lowered, allowing users with weaker smartphones to use PUBG Mobile.
For this, there was praise from Director Li:
The tech team has acquired the experience of two to three years in just two to three months.
What changed in gameplay? However, there were also adjustments in gameplay, as Neo Liu, the Head of Games at Tencent for North and South America, reported:
On PC, you can control a character perfectly with a mouse and keyboard, but on mobile, there are many optimizations in the game due to the limitations of the device.
You don’t have to manually pick up items, you don’t have to manually open doors. Many of the controls have been simplified, which doesn’t have to affect the fun of the game.
With special events, adapted game modes, and the “Royale Pass” for cosmetic content, PUBG Mobile also differs from the PC or console version more commonly used here in the West, as Polygon reports.
What about eSports? In 2020, PUBG Mobile has a prize pool of over 5 million dollars for eSports tournaments. This sector is an important success factor for Tencent.
The developers at Lightspeed & Quantum are working on a new in-game feature, the “eSports Center,” which aims to facilitate participation in tournaments as well as streaming and viewing.
One important topic is the problem with cheaters. A zero-tolerance policy is applied, as Rick Li reports. A cheater was banned for 10 years, and this was even addressed in an official video on YouTube.
A “peaceful” version in China
What was specifically changed for the Chinese market? PUBG Mobile was originally intended to be released in China in the same version available for download worldwide.
However, there were restrictions for new games. They had to align with socialist values. Therefore, Tencent developed the game “The Game for Peace”:
- In principle, it is the same game as PUBG Mobile
- However, it pays respect to the “People’s Liberation Army Air Force,” the Chinese air forces.
- The violence has been toned down.
- There is a 2-hour daily limit for players between the ages of 16 and 18.
PUBG Mobile – How is it doing in the West?
How successful is PUBG worldwide? PUBG Mobile is particularly popular in India, where it has been downloaded 116 million times according to Sensor Tower. That is 21% of all downloads. However, PUBG is even restricted in some regions of India.
The highest revenues from PUBG Mobile come from China, where about 40% of the total revenue was generated. However, it is also gaining significant popularity in the West.
Players from the United States have invested around 293 million dollars, which is about 20% of the total revenue. From Japan, which ranks third, there were 117 million dollars.
- Not only PUBG Mobile was developed in such a record time, but also Fortnite: Battle Royale was only in the oven for a few weeks. Epic is said to have developed Fortnite Battle Royale in just 2 months.
