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PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds developer didn't think the game would sell more than 300,000 units in the first year

When PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds creator Brendan Greene pitched the game to developer Bluehole, he envisioned it would sell 1 million in the first month.

The Battlegrounds creative director, before he started in his role, was talking big game, as one would. In reality, developer Bluehole had more modest ambitions.

According to a new interview with Greene, the Korean studio houses many veterans of the games industry, who all agreed that PUBG would sell between 200,000 and 300,000 in the first year. We now know that even Greene's own target was surpassed in less than a month. In fact, the game sold 2 million copies in about five weeks.

"A lot of the [internal team], they really couldn't believe it," Greene told Polygon. "There was a few veterans of the game industry that were [saying], like, 'No, no. 200,000 [or] 300,000 the first year.' But then when we hit that first million, there were a lot of smiles around the office."

The rest is, of course, history. The most recent official count pegs the game at a whopping 10 million sales. This, coupled with being the most played game on Steam, and PUBG has surpassed even Greene's wildest expectations.

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"You know, I had faith in my own game mode ... but [10] million copies and number one on Steam in just under five months I think we're at now? It's just crazy to me," he said.

"I mean, we're walking around wondering why we've been this successful."

In other PUBG news, PUBG's big September patch is now in testing, and we should see it on live servers by the end of this week. The patch adds a new weather condition, new town, a new weapon, and a whole bunch of small but crucial changes.

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PUBG: Battlegrounds

PS4, Xbox One, PC

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Sherif Saed

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Sherif (he/him) is VG247’s go-to shooter and Souls-likes person. Whether it’s news, reviews, or op-eds – Sherif is always eager to tell you about video games. He's one of VG247's most veteran writers, with 10+ years experience on the site.
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