Since 2020, Call of Duty Warzone has been one of the world’s most popular battle royale games. However, it can be argued that Warzone has only succeeded because of the groundwork that PUBG laid several years ago. In 2017, PUBG was released, and it essentially popularised the battle royale genre. Now, we’re taking a look at a grand debate – Call of Duty vs PUBG – and figuring out which of these two gaming titans is the best.
It might be subjective – for the most part – but the numbers can’t lie. There is a stark difference between these two franchises when it comes to the player count, overall value, and impact on the industry. However, there’s a caveat to this discussion. As Call of Duty’s success has been built around the multiplayer platform – which PUBG doesn’t really have – we’re only focusing on the battle royale modes offered by each series in this breakdown.
So, Call of Duty vs PUBG – which is the best battle royale experience?
It’s In The Numbers, Right?
In 2022, Call of Duty Warzone 2.0 was released, changing the face of the series. It wasn’t the best move for Activision and its associated studios, as over time, the player count started to drop. From 2020 to 2021, the Warzone platform enjoyed its peaks, with Verdansk pulling in tens of millions of players with ease. There was a close call when Caldera was released, with the new map almost killing Call of Duty Warzone.
By comparison, PUBG has consistently remained strong, sitting near the top of player count and user charts every single day. It’s one of the most-played games on Steam, but it’s also on consoles – and there’s a dramatically popular mobile game, too. In 2022, PUBG was made free-to-play, and it was a fantastic decision, with the game going on to shatter concurrent player records on Steam over the course of a single day.
Read More: Is PUBG Dying?
Now, if we use Steam as a representative example, we can see that:
Warzone 2.0’s all-time peak sits at 488,897
PUBG’s all-time peak player count is at 3,236,027
We can also see that, in the last twenty-four hours (at the time of publishing):
PUBG has a 24-hour peak of 384,059 on Steam
Warzone 2.0 has a 24-hour peak of 90,090 on Steam
Of course, Warzone tends to be more popular on console platforms, whereas PUBG tends to be more popular on PC. But it’s a good representative example in the Call of Duty vs PUBG debate that shows how much stronger a battle royale game PUBG is.
The Esports Potential
Some of the PUBG LAN settings have been incredible
Call of Duty Warzone’s popularity led to an esports ecosystem being created. It was never a massive success, and for the most part, smaller tournaments hosted by creators and streamers pulled in better viewership figures. As Call of Duty Warzone has always been plagued by cheaters and stability issues, there have been so many spanners in the works when it comes to the success of Warzone’s esports circle.
PUBG is much more successful when it comes to esports – and PUBG Mobile is a world-record-setting game. At the time of publishing, Call of Duty Warzone Mobile is yet to release, so in our debate of Call of Duty vs PUBG, there simply isn’t a comparison to make. But that doesn’t mean that we’re going to ignore the numbers.
So, according to the stats site escharts.com, these are the peak viewership figures for various esports tournaments:
Peak viewership on a PUBG tournament (in 2018) was 759,509 – by 2022, this had plummeted to 189,256
Peak viewership on a PUBG Mobile tournament (in 2021) was 3,801,998 – by 2022, this had plummeted to 851,780
Peak viewership on a Warzone tournament (in 2021) was 441,145 – by 2022, this had fallen slightly to 293,442
There’s more money in the prize pools for PUBG esports tournaments. In the Call of Duty world, it’s the Call of Duty League that brings in the big bucks and the viewers, but that’s what we meant by the traditional multiplayer aspect we discussed above.
But Which Is Better?
There has to be an ultimate decision – it’s not a Call of Duty vs PUBG debate unless we settle on an answer.
It’s mostly subjective, as we’ve said, but the numbers can’t lie. Not only is PUBG – and PUBG Mobile – more popular than Call of Duty Warzone, but the respective esports scenes are more popular and valuable. PUBG is a record-breaking franchise, and it has stood the test of time, remaining popular for more than six years. By contrast, Warzone suffers immeasurably with retaining players, and it’s certainly not one of the best battle royale games anymore.
So, in this argument, we’re saying that PUBG is better than Call of Duty.
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