Online battle royale game, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or PUBG is not just one of the popular mobile games but also has more than 100 million monthly players. It has also become the top grossing while collecting more than $146 million in May, 2019 in revenue. The figures were quoted buy a leading daily.
The revenue has not just come from the skins and items bought by the players in PUBG Mobile , but also from the money that was spent in the game’s China-only rebrand, Game For Peace. PUBG Mobile was adapted from the South Korean PC original by the Chinese tech giant Tencent. The estimates from the Chinese brokerage Great Wall Securities has mentioned that PUBG managed to generate $76 million in revenue in May, 2019 while Game For Peace generated $70 million.
Tencent had published the title in May after the Chinese government regulators rejected PUBG Mobile for monetization. Game For Peace can be called as the Skinned version of PUBG Mobile that has a patriotic setting and less bloodshed. For Instance, instead of dying in a pool of blood while being eliminated from the game, the players get up and wave a goodbye. Such changes narrate the difficulties that is faced by the gaming companies in China, where the government has cracked down on titles that it sees as corrupting or anti-social.
In February, it was reported that the government regulator stopped approving new licenses for video games altogether and the existing titles had to be rewritten or incorporate time limits. In 2017. Tencent’s popular mobile game, the fantasy MOBA Honor Of Kings had limited children under the age of 12 to one hour of daily play while the children between the age of 12 to 18 were allowed just two hours. Analysts predicted that such restrictions would affect the revenue of the companies like Tencent particularly with its rebrand of Game For Peace.
Photo Credits:Fox sports asia
