PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds just hit a milestone by setting the fourth highest concurrent user count on Steam. The title is still in early access, but already has enough of a following to surpass even the behemoth that is GTA 5 for the number of people playing on Steam at one time.

While it is a shock to see an unfinished game going toe to toe with GTA 5, these kinds of number make sense when considering the incredibly following PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has built. The massively multiplayer online survival game sold over 4 million copies in three months in spite of the fact that it's not even a complete game.

The $29.99 price tag on the game in Steam may have helped it shoot up the sales charts, but the gameplay was likely the most important factor when it comes to this big win for concurrent players. Considering that a completed version of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is around 6 months away, the future of the game looks even more promising. It's likely that even more players will get on board, especially when the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds launches on console. 

For users of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, a large and active player base is great news. Games in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds depend on having a massive horde of players to populate the map and create the Battle Royale-esque tension that defines the game. If PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds gets Xbox One and PC Cross-play, the concurrent player numbers could go even higher, even if it doesn't show up in the Steam charts.

There is a flip-side to this massive popularity, though. While the development team, Bluehole Studio, has plenty of work ahead, with updates planned and even a potential single player campaign for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, it could get away with fewer changes to the game and just wrap things up. It's already clear that PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is a winning title in its early access state, so Bluehole Studio could skip some of the polishing and leave out features it might have otherwise included to try getting a bigger audience. Fortunately, there aren't indications that this is the road Bluehole will go down.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is out now in Early Access for PC, with an Xbox One port coming later this year.

Source: PlayerUnknown's Twitter