Arma 2

Entering the Battlegrounds: Fan Labour in PUBG and Its Connection to the Mega-Platform

Emmanouloudis's paper examines how the success of PUBG (PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds) relied substantially on unpaid fan labour, including modding, streaming, fan art, feedback, and tool-building, all channelled through a "mega-platform" of interconnected community sites and social media.

• Fan labour was central to PUBG's growth, with modding, streaming, fan art, feedback, and tool-building all contributing largely unpaid value that the publisher captured commercially.
• The relationship between players and publisher is characterised as symbiotic yet exploitative: fans gain belonging and recognition, while the company profits from contributions it neither compensates nor fully controls.
• PUBG reached over 60 million copies sold by 2019, and its streams attracted more than 70,000 viewers in early 2018, illustrating the scale of its audience and community.