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Library/Game/PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
Grade B23 sourcesHIS-01532

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds

Game · 2017 · Breakout

79Editable slideCertificate

A Steam Early Access shooter reached a peak of 3.2 million concurrent players.

PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS
KRAFTON / PUBG Studios (Bluehole at launch)
Erangel landscape screenshot attached to the 2017 Steam Early Access launch announcement.
Bluehole
Current official PUBG gameplay screenshot from its Steam listing, accessed October 23, 2026.
KRAFTON / PUBG Corporation
Brendan Greene at GDC 2018; Game Developers Conference, CC BY 2.5.
Game Developers Conference / Trish Tunney
Bluehole built PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' for livestream viewers
GamesBeat
PUBG Vaults Over Milestone With Ten Million Units Sold
Shacknews
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds beats Dota 2's highest concurrent player record
PC Gamer
PUBG viewers can win free KFC chicken dinners this weekend on Twitch (Updated)
PC Gamer

Spread Score

How it works
Reach100ContagionNo data yetBreadth70Velocity41Longevity8679

Numbers

Steam all-time peak; historical maximum on a live tracker
3.2M
As of Oct 23, 2026 · Open web · Steam Charts
Peak proxy date
By end of Jan 2018
Mar 23 ’17 to By end of Jan 2018
Platforms
4
Started on Open web
Origin
Seeded
Gaming

Mechanics

  • Platform jumpPrimary
  • Press loop
  • Catchphrase
  • Dupe economy
  • Controversy

How it spread

Trace the origin

PUBG entered Steam Early Access in March 2017 after streamer tests. Gameplay spread on Twitch and YouTube as press covered sales records. Xbox followed before the January 2018 Steam-player peak; KFC promotions and free-to-play came later.

Proxy date; not a directly measured attention peak. Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.

Google searchesJan ’17AprJunAugOctJan ’18MarJunDecFeb ’20Apr ’21Mar ’22Peak proxyYouTubeOpen webTwitchPress
YouTubeOpen webTwitchPress

13 more events on this chart

Join free to see them

Timeline (16)

  1. March 2017

    PC Gamer precursor · Mar 9 ’17

    PC Gamer published the official trailer and announced a March 23 Early Access release.[1]

    PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS
    Open the first post ↗

  2. Bluehole / Brendan Greene seed · Mar 23 ’17

    Bluehole released PUBG for public purchase through Steam Early Access.[2][3]

  3. May 2017

    Twitch platform jump · May 4 ’17

    Twitch hosted an owner-backed charity invitational featuring European and North American streamer teams.[4][5]

  1. platform jump · May 11 ’17

  2. commercial · Jun 23 ’17

Join free to see the other 13 events and the full chart. Free, on every case.

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Why it worked

Do this

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

Pro opens the playbook, all 11 sourced numbers and 23 sources. Start with a free account.

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Origin
Seeded
Sector
Gaming
Region
KR
Steam all-time peak; historical maximum on a live tracker
3.2M
As of Oct 23, 2026 · Open web · Steam Charts
Evidence
Grade B

Spread the same way

Book · Open web · 201246

Gone Girl (novel)

Gillian Flynn / Crown / W&N

Gillian Flynn's thriller reached No. 1 on USA TODAY's list after its film adaptation.

20M sold

1 / 8

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New cases, every week

How the next thing spread, the week it does.