Welcome to the global battlegrounds! The passion for PUBG knows no borders. Have you ever wondered where the majority of players come from? Check out this article to get a comprehensive understanding of PUBG’s player base.   

Introduction

PUBG is a success story. From its Early Access release to the finished game, gameplay has remained consistently exciting as you battled alongside players from around the globe. Even though there is regional matchmaking, you are still subject to a diverse mix of nationalities.

Player numbers might have declined since the initial groundbreaking phase, but an average daily fan base of around 200,000 players continues to keep the chicken vibes alive. Only on PC. This doesn’t include console players, and especially not PUBG Mobile players, who are in a league of their own with daily player numbers surpassing the 20 million mark. 

Yes, PUBG is a success story. On a global scale. Where geopolitics and personal interests of many rulers divide people and nations, gaming unifies the world. Nuff said, let’s quickly look at the method used to determine the ranking. 

Method 

However, there is no exact information on the distribution of PUBG players from around the world. Although PUBG Mobile is the most successful platform of Krafton’s battle royale game, with over 1 Billion downloads, the main focus in this article lies upon the PC version. PUBG mobile is mostly played in Asia, and the ranking would differ significantly if we included it. 

This chart derived from statista.com shows the monthly number of peak concurrent players on Steam. Worldwide. Notably, the number of peak players has stagnated around 500.000 since mid 2020 and remains to this day. Unfortunately, this chart doesn’t give any information about the nationality of the player base. 

This chart from June 2017, also derived from statista.com, does give some information, but is out-of-date. Nevertheless, it provides some insights  into the player’s global distribution and that’s pretty much about it. 

In order to get a better picture of the single countries where PUBG is played most, it is also helpful to consider the Esports-activity in global tournaments. This can offer indirect evidence  about the game’s popularity in specific countries. 

Let’s take South Korea as an example. The country is home to Krafton and home to the most successful team Gen.G., the most financially successful team in terms of total prize money accumulated over the years. While this gives no exact information about the casual players in South Korea, it is very likely that the game is still very popular among them.      

So,armed with few facts and some informed speculation, let’s examine the countries where PUBG is most played in 2023. 

Ranking 

10. Japan

Interestingly, Japan is the origin of the battle royale idea. This is due to the Japanese writer Koushun Takami, who published the best selling dystopian horror novel “Battle Royale” in 1999. In this novel, Japanese students are forced to fight each other to the death until only one survivor remains. 

In June 2017, Japanese gamers made up 4.3% of total PUBG PC players (which were only 6,000 by that time). However, PUBG is deeply ingrained in the Japanese Esports Scene, which features the Japanese Championships in 2023. The most successful Japanese squad is team SunSister. Interestingly, no Japanese teams participate in the major global PUBG tournaments.  

9. Turkey

According to playercounter.com, Turkish PUBG players on Steam make up 5.63% of all active daily participants. As of May 2023, this translates to roughly 20,000 daily players from Turkey. 

The Esports scene in Turkey might not be as vast as in other Asian countries, but it is still active and ongoing. There are a few Turkish teams who take part in international tournaments, with the team HOWL Esports gaining popularity in recent global tournaments.

8. Germany 

As of June 2017, Statista reports 6% German PUBG PC Players. With an average of ~140,000 daily players in total, this amounts to 8,400 German players back in the day. This number is likely to be lower in 2023, as playercounter.com doesn’t list Germany within the Top 5 countries by player numbers, with Russia in 5th place (4.76%).

From a global perspective, the PUBG Esports scene in Germany is rather sparse, however, the first major PUBG events, the Gamescom Invitational and the PUBG Global Invitational 2018, were both held in Germany and helped PUBG gain worldwide notoriety.   

The most successful team from Germany is Acend, which scored the 2nd place in the PUBG Global Series 2023 Phase 1. 

7. United Kingdom  

The UK is also represented in the June 2017 statistic, with 4% players share. This equates to 5,600 UK gamers daily. As with Germany, this number has most likely decreased. 

Within the realm of PUBG Esports, the UK appears to be of little participation. There are no notable teams, and the best players from England used to play for different countries, such as Fexx for the FaZe Clan. 

However, the UK won the PUBG Nations Cup 2022, and brought the island back on the world stage.   

6. Russia

6% of Russians played PUBG in June 2017. This is about the same percentage as German players in the same month. So around 8,400 Russian players battled for the Chicken Dinner back then. 

Russian players are quite successful in PUBG. The most famous Russian players are Ubah and Xmpl, who both play for the Ukrainian team Natus Vincere. 

However, Russia won the 2019 PUBG Nations Cup.     

5. Brazil

According to playercounter.com, Brazilian players make up 6.5% of the active daily participants in PUBG. This totals to 12,350 Brazilians playing PUBG on PC today.  

Brazilian teams and players are mainly present in Latin American tournaments and leagues. 

4. Thailand

Even though Thailand isn’t represented in the available charts for player numbers in PUBG, it seems like the players base is solid. The Thai teams are more successful than the Brazilian teams on the international stage, with team Day Trade Gaming clearly standing out. 

Day Trade Gaming has won all three recent annual PUBG Thailand Series, and the PUBG Continental Series 7: Asia Pacific. 

3. US 

In June 2017, US players made up 24% of all PUBG PC players, equating to 33,600 daily players. Over the years, this percentage fell to approximately 17%, which equates to 45,600 players and still exceeds the numbers from June 2017.

The North American country has several well performing Esports teams on the global stage; the Soniqs, STK, Third Eye and others. After all, the US has a thriving Esports scene and PUBG is no exception.  

2. China

In June 2017, Chinese players made up 19% of PUBG Pc Players. This is 26,600 active daily players. Due to the restrictive nature of the Chinese government, PUBG was practically banned in 2021 in its current version. It was replaced by a much friendlier variant, which featured anti-terrorism themes and no bloodshed, called “Game for Peace”. Chinese PUBG players were able to continue the hunt for the precious chicken. 

Chinese teams come off very strong in the international tournaments and are considered aggressive, hard-hitting teams. If you watch the footage of teams such as New Happy, 17 Gaming, or Tianba, you understand why they are considered power houses.

All in all, there are many Chinese teams, some of them quite successful, and it will be interesting to see how the Esports scene will develop in the region in regard to the global success of PUBG players.  

1. South Korea

In June 2017, South Korea made up 5.5% of the players in PUBG. This is 7,700 players on a daily basis on average. Even though South Korea has fewer player numbers than other, bigger countries, the country somehow is PUBGs home base. It is home to Krafton Inc., the company that published PUBG and owns the rights to that game. 

The most successful team in the history of PUBG Esports is from South Korea: Gen.G Esports, with overall earnings exceeding $3.5 million. South Korea, as one of the pioneering countries of Esports, brings out many more teams. The Esports scene in general is considered to be well-structured and robust.    

Further reading:

PUBG Review - Is It Worth Playing In 2023?