PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has sold over eight million copies
It's all panning out.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has sold over eight million copies and has an all-time peak player count of 700,000 players.
During Microsoft's Xbox briefing at gamescom, Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene confirmed the astonishing sales success Battlegrounds has enjoyed since its Early Access release in March.
When asked why he thought the game was so popular Greene said: "I think it's the idea that it's a very basic game. It's land, loot, survive. Everyone can understand that. I think that's what the draw is. There's no rules, there's no 'you have to play this way', you can just jump in and play."
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is hot on the heels of DOTA 2 when it comes to peak player count on Steam. Battlegrounds currently has the second highest concurrent player count on Valve's platform, at 699,231 peak players, while DOTA 2 is in first place with 876,395 peak players. If Battlegrounds' upward trajectory continues, it looks like it'll soon become the most popular game on Steam.
At the Microsoft Xbox briefing, Greene also revealed Microsoft Studios will publish the Xbox One version of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds later this year.
However, a question mark remains on Battlegrounds' Xbox exclusivity, with some likening it to the deal Microsoft signed to publish Rise of the Tomb Raider, which eventually came out on PlayStation 4 a year after it launched on Xbox One.