To say that the milestones Player Unknown's Battlegrounds is surpassing is impressive is an understatement. Even though it is an early access game that is only found on PC, PUBG has sold over seven million copies, has 600,000 concurrent players, has stayed number one on Steam top selling charts even through summer sale, and more. Well, the game has hit yet another one recently.

According to a Twitch viewership data center called GamoLoco, PUBG has had more views on Twitch than League of Legends between August 6-13. In that week, PUBG had a total hour viewership of around 16.9 million views, while LoL was at around 15 million hours viewed. Also in that week, Dota 2 was blazing the trail with around 30.6 million hours viewed from the annual Dota 2 International tournament. But why does that matter? What if I said PUBG did something that other big games like Overwatch, Battlefield, and Call of Duty haven't done? The creator of GamoLoco has said that in its three years of monitoring Twitch, no game has surpassed League of Legends in weekly viewing hours unless the game was in the middle of a top-tiered e-sports competition. As said by GamoLoco,"It’s key to understand here that no AAA industry blockbuster even came close to that kind of performance on Twitch.And no other 'top tier e-sports candidate,' including the highly-heralded Overwatch, got close either."

I don't watch Twitch normally, but I know how big it is and how big the audience is. I also don't play LoL, but I also know how big that game. So to see that a free to play game released eight years ago that at one point has 67 million active monthly players and is owned by one of the richest video game companies in the world gets surpassed on views from a five month old game in early access that costs money is shocking. Not even Overwatch? Or Call of Duty, Battlefield, GTA 5, or CS:GO?

I wanted to talk about this because I always like reading and writing about the unpredictable news. It's always fun to look at the news that makes you raise an eyebrow and say "Huh?" Whether it be the releasing of a good Sonic, the future release of video game icon Mario shooting Rabbids X-COM style, AMD making a graphics card with 2 TB of memory, or others. And sure, PUBG was going to pass LoL in views eventually. But that fast?

The other reason I wanted to talk about this is because of how much I love to see smaller games hit big. Seeing games like PUBG and Rocket League staying on top selling charts is really cool. But this can even be seen on the console level with the Nintendo Switch selling extremely well (selling beyond the Nintendo lover demographic.) With contenders like Sony and Microsoft wielding more power and popular multiplayer titles being beaten by the Switch, which wields first party games and indies.

But getting back to the main subject, I am happy to see PUBG doing well. When the game came out, I ignored the game because I didn't want to play another Arma mod game. I didn't want to deal with the technical issues and game complexities that game is known for. But I am happy that I gave it a chance, and I am happy to see so many other people giving the game a chance as well. I hope the game sees more success along the way, and I hope that the under dogs of games continue to do well.

I will never in a million years understand how people enjoy watching others play PUBG,. Admittedly third person multiplayer shooters are super not my thing, but I understand why people like to play it and have even enjoyed my fair share of it (1 chicken dinner won). But watching someone slowly crawl through a field for 20+ minutes... I just dont...

@dizzyhippos: I've watched quite a lot of PUBG streamed, mostly by Jackfrags and a few other English streamers and never once have I seen anyone slowly crawl through a field for 20+ minutes. Considering a game only takes 30mins I can't see any advantage in doing what you said. Maybe that's the issue.

@dizzyhippos: Because it is tension, tactics, and strategy filled and each match has an arc in how it plays out and the story that develops. That last bit is particularly important. It's much better to watch than almost any game out there for me for those reasons.

Almost all the other big shooters are wall running, ability using type games where it's boring to watch people just pop off these abilities and quickly kill guys to little consequence. It makes it low stakes and boring. No one crawls through fields for 20 minutes, they play a game where positioning, stealth, and things like that matter which is great.

Apparently sales are up and past 10 million now. For reference, this is the territory of games like Battlefield now (BF 1 sold 15 million plus). Half the price on launch, but still, crazy.

@artisanbreads: It's crazy. The best part is that BF1 is a multi platform game while PUBG is still an early access game only on pc

I don't really have much interest in the game personally (watching or playing it), but it's absolutely fascinating watching the numbers rise. And there's absolutely no way of knowing if this is a bubble that's eventually going to pop or if it's going to become the most popular game ever made, or anything in between.

Yeah, for just a PC release the numbers are crazy. Price helps, but there's no doubt about it.

To me the bubble question about it is how much of a sim it is in a lot of ways. This is coming from games based on ARMA and stuff it has those basics all in there. I wonder about that. I love that kind of game but I'm shocked for example the GB guys like it because they complain about every other shooter being slow when you don't have a jetpack or whatever.

If I'm to guess, I think it's the explosion of this genre (Battle Royale FPS) and people flocking to this new format of multiplayer game. It feels bigger than other games when you can win, but also you can go from match to match quickly. You can play alone or with friends. It has a lot going for it.

You'll know the bubble has burst when Ubisoft and EA release their ultra polished version.

I heard that thousands of the online players are AFK bots mining for skirts.