PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds may be the new favourite battle royale game, but it still can’t quite dethrone H1Z1: King of the Kill

By Sherif Saed

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is a couple of weeks old, but it’s already topping all the charts that matter.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, the battle royale game from the genre’s creator – hence the name – has done really well since it launched on Steam Early Access nearly two weeks ago. Not just in terms of copies sold, but also when you look at the more important concurrent player numbers on Steam.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds managed to become Steam’s third most played game on several occasions, the honour previously held by H1Z1: King of the Kill, the other big battle royale game, also worked on by the same creator. In fact, Battlegrounds and King of the Kill often trade the No.3 spot depending on the time of day.

That’s according to Githyp, who noted that peak hours for each game occur at almost the opposite times of the day. King of the Kill seems to shine during night hours in the US, whereas Battlegrounds does better during the afternoon for the US, which is usually night time in Europe.

What’s interesting here is that although both are capable of claiming the No.3 spot, King of the Kill does it with a much higher concurrent player count. That’s over 100,000 concurrent players compared to Battlegrounds’ 60,000.

There’s obviously the fact King of the King is a more established name in the genre, and has been around for longer. But for a game as recent as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds to even touch the top 3, let alone do it regularly, is no small feat.

These stats are also reflected in Battlegrounds’ Twitch viewership, as the game has no problem breaking the top three there also, with more than 100,000 concurrent viewers. This is in part thanks to big-name streamers, who flocked to the game during alpha phases and even now.