It looks like player numbers for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is losing steam, at least on PC. According to the numbers on steamdb.info, the daily player count dropped to below 1 million on September 10 and stood at 960,263 players. It dropped further a day later to 958,714.
According to the information on the website, this is the first time that the daily active player count for the game dropped below 1 million players since September 8, 2017. PUBG peaked around the beginning of the year, with 3,257,246 daily active players, however the active player count has been on a steady decline.
Reports suggest that reason for the decline could be due to the beta release of Black Ops 4 Blackout on September 10. However, the beta was released for the PlayStation 4, while the PC early access for the game is starting on September 14, with open beta scheduled for September 15. Considering the fact that the active player count for PUBG has been on a steady decline, the launch of Black Ops 4 Blackout can hardly be the sole reason for the fall in player numbers.
Of course, the rise in the popularity of Fortnite Battle Royale could also be one of the factors for the decline in PUBG's player base. Fortnite is free to play and is pretty polished compared to PUBG. The developers of PUBG, Bluehole, have admitted that the game still has a bunch of bugs that need to be ironed out and has launched the ‘Fix PUBG’ initiative for the same. The developer must be hoping that, the initiative, combined with regular updates should ensure a return of players. Yesterday, it was reported that the game might soon get a new snow map, called Dihor Otok, which should offers a refreshed experience for players.