PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds just hit the 8 million units old mark two weeks ago and already it's at 10 million. The extra momentum push in sales is in part due to the game's continued popularity as the most popular shooter broadcasted and viewed on streaming services like Twich.tv and as the game has topped the charts as the most played game on Valve's Steam platform, beating out Valve's own Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

PUBG also just set another record on that front hitting peak concurrent users (e.g. CCU) with over 970,000. The other part of the title's recent accolades is Germany's Gamescom 2017 event last week which hosted the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Invitational which drew even more attention to the battle royale shooter, and featured many of the most popular streamers.

  • 92 players from 19 different countries globally competed in four different PUBG game modes (solo, duo, duo-fpp, squad)
  • PUBG Invitational was officially broadcast across nine streaming platforms including Mixer, Twitch, Youtube, Facebook, PandaTV, AfreecaTV, Kakao TV, Naver and Openrec
  • Peak online viewership on Twitch official channels was 536,000 on first day (solo mode)
  • Peak online viewership on PandaTV official channels was 5.6 million on first day (solo mode)

Upcoming PUBG Updates and Fixes

A work-in-progress screenshot of PUBG's next map

With all the success and attention however, some things have of course changed. Microtransactions were rushed into the game in time for the PUBG Invitational which is offputting, especially given the in sale after-market prices for skins and prices of the limited time crates (and keys to unlock them), but the worst part of the players is how the devs have slowed down on the game updates and virtually stopped communication with the community. This was called out on Reddit to which the PUBG Esports Program Manager responded to reveal a few things in progress:

  • Grenade system overhaul (more accuracy, range, versatility)
  • Bug/exploit removals (no more crouch-jumping)
  • Crate improvements (Tommy Guns won't be in crates anymore)
  • UI Fixes (better performance)
  • Vaulting
  • New Map (the desert one that's been advertised)
  • Ballistics fixes (better weapon physics, bullet travel, penetration, drop, etc.)
  • Punishments for AFK players
  • More, much, more

Chang Han Kim, Vice President and Executive Producer for Bluehole:

“It is amazing and gratifying to see the love and support the passionate fans have shown to PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS. Watching the thrilling moments during the PUBG Invitational with the great feedback from viewers is a realization of the continuing popularity of PUBG and our team is working diligently to bring a solid gameplay experience for full launch on the PC and Xbox One Game Preview versions later this year.”

With the fall lineup of Triple-A games finally about to hit retail, including this week's Destiny 2 and the long overdue major expansion and update to Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege today, soon to be joined by Star Wars: Battlefront II, Call of Duty: WWII, Assassin's Creed: Origins, and Far Cry 5, there could be some competitors nipping at PUBG's player counts. To combat that however, PUBG will be available on Xbox One this holiday season as a console launch exclusive to coincide with the Xbox One X release, before the game releases in full early next year.

More: PlayerUnknown’s BATTLEGROUNDS Is Adding Zombies As Well

A last-man-standing shooter, PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS drops players on a realistic 8 x 8 km island with visuals that showcase Unreal Engine 4’s capabilities. Starting with nothing, gamers must fight to locate weapons, vehicles and supplies as they strive to be the lone survivor.

PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS is currently available in early access on PC via Steam and releases this holiday as a timed console exclusive on Xbox One as preview program release.

Source: Bluehole