Despite having been out in Early Access for less than six months, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has already achieved over 1 million concurrent players on Steam alone. The game, which features a free-for-all or squad-based battle royale, recently hit a record peak of 1,028,275 concurrent players and stood as the most active game on Valve's platform at the time.
Of course, the game still has a way to go before it can top Dota's incredible record of 1,295,114 concurrent players, but it's still an impressive feat for the relatively new title. And with PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds growing in popularity consistently, it likely won't be long before it can take the crown from the long-standing MOBA.
This recent statistic is particularly interesting when compared with that fact that Battlegrounds recently announced its 10 million sales milestone. With that in mind, roughly ten percent of the game's playerbase must have been online simultaneously to have reached such incredible figures.
The Hunger Games style gameplay is soon to attract even more fans, as the development team over at Bluehole Studio Inc. has recently announced a partnership with Microsoft that will see the game progressing at an increased speed in the run up to an Xbox One release. With console fans finally in the mix, there's no telling just how high PUBG's player count can rise, but creator Brendan Greene is confident that the game could reach even League of Legends levels of popularity.
Despite all the praise the game has received, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is still currently a one map experience with matches playing out in a relatively similar manner each time. It seems, however, that this is one Early Access title that is being done right, and new updates are being made on a regular basis.
The game's developer is also addressing the lack of diversity issue, with a new desert map coming in the not-so-far future. The upcoming landscape looks to be smaller than the map players are used to, but will provide a dense urban environment that is sure to add a lot to the multiplayer gameplay.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is out now for PC in Early Access and will launch on the Xbox One in 2017.
Source: GameSpot