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Tencent
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Tencent’s PUBG Mobile rakes in US$226 million in May, continuing streak as highest-grossing mobile game globally

  • PUBG Mobile’s revenue rose 41 per cent year-on-year in May, topping Sensor Tower’s ranking of global mobile game revenue for the ninth straight month
  • Honour of Kings, also by Tencent Holdings, was second place with US$204.5 million in gross revenue

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Peacekeeper Elite, also known as Game for Peace, by Tencent Holdings.
Josh Ye
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Mobile , the popular game by Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings, pulled in over US$226 million in revenue in May, continuing the game’s streak as the highest-grossing mobile game worldwide, according to Sensor Tower.

App analytics firm Sensor Tower reported that PUBG Mobile’s revenue in May represented a 41 per cent year-on-year increase. The game has topped the firm’s monthly rankings of mobile games in terms of overall worldwide revenue for nine straight months since last September.

Tencent’s other blockbuster mobile game – Honour of Kings – came in second in the ranking, bringing in US$204.5 million in gross revenue in May, up 42 per cent year-on-year.
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Gaming companies like Tencent, the world’s biggest gaming company by revenue, saw a surge in users due to more people staying home during the coronavirus pandemic, with the industry seen by some analysts as among the biggest beneficiaries of the lockdowns.
Games revenue across all platforms in China was roughly 30 per cent higher in the first quarter of 2020 than the same period last year, according to estimates released in April by Niko Partners.

But before the pandemic, PUBG Mobile was already on track to become a huge global hit. It surpassed US$1 billion in revenue last year when combined with its mainland China version, Peacekeeper Elite , according to earlier estimates by Sensor Tower. The international version of PUBG Mobile was also the most lucrative Chinese mobile game outside China in 2019, pulling in US$776 million, Sensor Tower data showed.

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