PUBG Mobile: Success in Western Markets

Key insights

6 takeaways

01
Tencent's 'PUBG Mobile' reached the No. 1 spot on the App Store free games chart in 49 out of 50 tracked Western markets, making it the most successful Chinese-made mobile game in the region since early 2017.
02
The game achieved its peak market penetration in just three days, launching globally on March 19, 2018, and hitting the top spot in 47 Western countries by March 22.
03
Beyond gaming categories, 'PUBG Mobile' outperformed all other apps—including viral hits like Bitmoji and YouTube—by reaching the No. 1 overall free app ranking in 48 Western countries.
04
The game's market dominance significantly outpaced competitors, with the runner-up Chinese title 'Rules of Survival' reaching the top spot in 24 fewer markets than 'PUBG Mobile'.
05
While most top-performing Chinese mobile games took at least 10 days to reach their peak rankings in Western markets, 'PUBG Mobile's' rapid ascent was driven by the existing strength of the 'PUBG' PC IP and the global popularity of the battle royale genre.
06
Other notable Chinese-made titles struggled to match this scale, with the third-ranked game, 'Word Connect', reaching the top of the free games chart in only 14 Western countries.

Summary

Tencent's PUBG Mobile achieved the broadest Western App Store dominance of any China-made mobile game since early 2017, according to Sensor Tower's App Intelligence tracking of 50 Western countries and regions across North America, Europe, Oceania, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Roughly one month after its global launch on March 19, 2018, the iPhone version reached No. 1 on the daily free game chart in 49 of those markets, while competing directly with Fortnite for global players.

PUBG Mobile led the runner-up, NetEase's Rules of Survival, by 25 markets. Word Connect placed third with 14 markets, and every other title in the top ten topped charts in ten or fewer countries. The battle royale genre's Western momentum was initially sparked by NetEase's late-2017 releases. Among all games globally, only Nintendo's Super Mario Run did better, sweeping all 50 markets. PUBG Mobile's only miss was Barbados, where it consistently ranked behind Fortnite and peaked at second. Across all app categories, not just games, it topped the daily free chart in 48 Western countries, outperforming Bitmoji, Sarahah, YouTube, Fortnite, Super Mario Run, and viral casual titles from Voodoo and Ketchapp.

PUBG Mobile also rose fastest. It reached 47 markets at No. 1 on March 22, just three days after launch. The other nine titles in the ranking needed at least ten days to hit their peak, and most took under 100 days, though Word Connect and Tap Tap Dash required more than 250 days.

The analysis attributes this speed to the popularity of the PUBG PC franchise and the battle royale genre worldwide, along with strong domestic performance after Tencent secured the mobile publishing rights in China in November 2017. Western players were evidently eager for the launch, producing immediate download surges.