Fortnite mobile has half the downloads of PUBG, but five times the revenue
PUBG gains ground but can't compete with Fortnite's $92 million gross lifetime revenue
Epic Games' Fortnite is pulling in nearly five times the revenue on mobile than PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, despite garnering half as many weekly downloads.
According to figures released to Bloomberg by market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, Fortnite has generated $92 million revenue in 11 weeks ending on June 18, compared to roughly $19 million grossed by PUBG during the same period.
Both games have been backed to a certain degree by Tencent, with the Chinese internet giant even acting as publisher for the mobile release of PUBG.
Unlike Fortnite however, PUBG is also available to download on Android but Tencent appears to have been unable to capitalise on that considerable advantage.
During the game's first weeks on mobile, PUBG peaked at 23.3 million downloads compared to the 3.4 million of Fortnite.
Although the figures don't include China, the notable absence of Fortnite on Android is reflected by its weaker showing in Asia; nearly two thirds of its gross revenue to date comes from the US alone.
In comparison, roughly one-third of gross lifetime revenue for PUBG has come from Asian territories, and one-third form the US.
Player spending on PUBG did spike recently however with the launch of Royale Pass, a new monetisation model which closely follows the rewards approach taken by Epic Games with Fortnite.
According to Sensor Tower, player spending on mobile increased by 365 per cent following the launch of Royale Pass, grossing roughly $6.1 million global weekly revenue across both Android and iOS compared to the previous average of $1.3 million.
"At present, we estimate that PUBG mobile is now earning more than $700,000 per day in player spending across both stores worldwide and has grossed more than $16 million to date," said Randy Nelson, head of mobile insights.
"As players of the game are aware, Tencent appears to be continuing to fine-tune its monetisation strategy, adding items such as weapon skins, player emotes, and more. We'll be continuing to watch its development closely and offer more insights as they emerge."