
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
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.
Behavioural changes from pandemic could sustain gaming, e-commerce boom
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.
Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.
Chinese mobile games featured prominently in Sensor Tower’s global rankings for May, with four out of 10 highest-grossing games developed by Chinese companies. Aside from PUBG Mobile, Honour of Kings and Three Kingdoms Strategic, Rise of Kingdoms by Shanghai-based Lilith Games also made it to the top 10, coming in at ninth place.
However, they still rely heavily on the Chinese domestic user base for revenue. According to Sensor Tower, 95 per cent of Honour of Kings' revenue came from China in May while PUBG Mobile saw 53 per cent of its revenue come from China – through Peacekeeper Elite – in the same month. Three Kingdoms Strategic is currently only available in China.
