Playerunknown's Battlegrounds has sold more than 20 million copies

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The new milestone doubles the figure that was achieved just two months ago.

Another Playerunknown's Battlegrounds milestone has gone whizzing by, and this one is a biggie. Just two months after claiming ten million copies sold—a remarkable achievement by any measure—creative director Brendan Greene said on Twitter that it has now moved past 20 million. 

The reference to frustration and change tracks back to last week's apology "for the inconvenience caused by the cheaters," and more importantly the promise to do something about it. The developers warned at the time that "our battle against cheaters will not end overnight," but said that a patch is on the way—it should actually be out later this week. 

Cheaters notwithstanding, it's clear that PUBG's popularity isn't waning. Steam reviews are "mixed" (and there are so many of them that the status will likely never change) but moving ten million copies—on top of ten million copies already in the wild—in less than two months is nothing short of astonishing.   

Its player counts aren't diminishing any, either: It hit 2.4 million peak concurrent players today, well over triple that of the former long-time king of the hill, Dota 2, which topped out at 680,000.   

Runaway popularity notwithstanding, PUBG still has a way to go before it becomes a great esport. What does it need to do to get there? We recently spoke to Greene and streamers Ellohime and Anthony Kongphan to find out.  

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.