PUBG Game Cost: How Much Does It Take to Build?

7 Aug, 2025

6 min read

Player Unknown Battleground, aka PUBG, remains a global gaming giant, pulling nearly 950,000 peak players in July 2025. Its all-time high was over 3.2 million concurrent players in 2018. This success raises an important question: how much does it really cost to build and sustain a global phenomenon like PUBG? From development and servers to marketing and updates, let’s break down the true cost behind this battle royale powerhouse.

The Development of PUBG

PUBG’s journey began as a concept in 2017 by Brendan Greene (aka PlayerUnknown), who envisioned a battle royale game that would offer players an immersive survival experience. Developed by the South Korean company PUBG Corporation, the game was initially inspired by a mod of ARMA 2. The development team was relatively small at the beginning, but as the game gained popularity, the team expanded significantly.

At Cubix, we’ve helped clients build large-scale multiplayer shooters with Unreal Engine, handling everything from environment design to gameplay mechanics. Our experience in crafting scalable architectures gives us insight into what PUBG required at launch, millions in upfront investment for development, licensing, and live updates.

“PUBG set a new standard for scalability and user engagement in the mobile gaming world. From a development standpoint, it’s a brilliant case study in how to balance performance, design, and server-side stability for millions of concurrent players.”

– Umair Ahmed, VP of Growth at Cubix, a Game Development Company

Developing a game like PUBG, a shooting game, is an expensive venture. Game engines, design, and programming are the core pillars of game development, each coming with its own costs. PUBG uses Unreal Engine, a high-end game engine that comes with licensing fees and requires continuous development support to ensure it runs efficiently.

The cost of game development can easily run into millions of dollars. For example, the initial development cost of PUBG is estimated to be around $10 million, with continuous updates, patches, and content additions pushing costs even higher. As the game expanded, additional resources were invested in maintaining the global server infrastructure and optimizing the game for different platforms.

Marketing and PR Costs

Creating the game is only part of the equation; getting it into the hands of millions of players is another challenge. PUBG invested heavily in marketing to establish a global presence. The game relied heavily on influencer marketing, partnerships, and social media campaigns to reach a wide audience.

Major streamers and YouTubers were key in spreading the word about PUBG, which helped the game quickly gain traction. PUBG also held several global tournaments, further fueling the buzz. All these marketing and PR efforts come with hefty costs, but they paid off by creating a massive player base and securing PUBG’s place in the battle royale genre.

Server Management and Infrastructure Costs

One of the biggest challenges for any online multiplayer game is server management. With PUBG attracting millions of players daily, managing global server infrastructure is a massive cost. PUBG Corporation has invested heavily in maintaining and scaling its servers to handle millions of concurrent players.

The game requires high-performance servers across multiple regions to ensure smooth gameplay, low latency, and zero downtime. Server hosting, load balancing, and scaling to accommodate the growing number of players is a crucial part of PUBG’s operational costs. Cubix has supported projects with distributed global servers, ensuring low latency and zero downtime for high-concurrency games.

Read More: The Rise of Multiplayer Games

The Economic Model of PUBG

PUBG operates under a free-to-play model, where players can download and play the game for free but can spend money on in-game purchases. The primary revenue streams for PUBG include skins, loot boxes, the Battle Pass, and seasonal content. These microtransactions have proven to be highly lucrative for PUBG, generating millions of dollars each month.

In addition to in-game purchases, PUBG also benefits from partnerships with brands for promotional collaborations, including exclusive skins and in-game events. These sponsorships add another layer of revenue that helps offset the ongoing PUBG game costs of running the game.

Customer Acquisition and Retention

Attracting players to PUBG is only the first step; retaining them is a much bigger challenge. PUBG has maintained a steady influx of new players while keeping its existing players engaged through regular updates, new content, and seasonal events.

To retain customers, PUBG frequently introduces new maps, limited-time game modes, and skins. This constant stream of fresh content keeps players engaged and willing to spend money on new items. Customer retention is crucial for PUBG’s continued success, and this comes at a high cost in terms of development and marketing.

Making Money from PUBG

PUBG’s main sources of revenue come from in-game purchases, including skins, costumes, and the Battle Pass. Players spend money to customize their characters, unlocking new looks and items to enhance their gameplay experience. Additionally, PUBG frequently runs special events and collaborations with other brands, introducing limited-edition content that encourages players to spend more.

The company also profits from selling the game on platforms like Steam and Xbox. Though the game is free-to-play, players have the option to purchase premium content that enhances their gaming experience.

Managing Traffic and Scaling for Global Demand

PUBG’s massive success means that managing high traffic and scaling its infrastructure is a constant challenge. The game experiences periods of intense player activity, especially during major updates or events. Handling this traffic requires robust infrastructure capable of scaling quickly to accommodate sudden spikes in demand.

The developers use cloud services, dedicated servers, and load-balancing techniques to ensure the game remains stable even with millions of concurrent players. This scalability is essential for PUBG’s continued success and requires a significant investment in technology and infrastructure.

The Team Behind PUBG

Behind PUBG’s success is a talented and dedicated team of engineers, designers, developers, and artists. The development team is responsible for everything from game mechanics to character design, environment art, and optimization. The team also handles ongoing updates and patches, which require continuous work to keep the game running smoothly.

As PUBG has grown, so has its development team. Today, PUBG Corporation employs hundreds of professionals, including a diverse group of engineers, designers, and artists. This growing team is crucial for sustaining the game’s success and keeping it relevant in the fast-evolving gaming industry.

Role/Service	Team Size	Avg. Rate (USD/hour)	Estimated Cost Range (USD)
Game Developers (Front & Backend)	10–15	$40–$100	$1.5M – $3M
Game Designers (UI/UX, Gameplay)	5–8	$30–$80	$500K – $1M
3D Artists & Animators	6–10	$25–$70	$600K – $1.2M
Project Managers	1–2	$50–$120	$200K – $500K
QA Testers	4–6	$20–$50	$200K – $400K
Sound Designers & Composers	1–3	$40–$100	$150K – $300K
Server Infrastructure (Year 1)	–	–	$1M – $3M
Marketing & PR Campaigns	–	–	$2M – $5M+
Customer Support & Live Ops	10–15	$15–$40	$500K – $1M annually
Licensing (e.g., Unreal Engine)	–	–	$300K – $1M+ (royalty-based)
Content Creation (Skins, Maps)	–	–	$500K – $2M+

The total PUBG game cost ranges between $10 million – $15 million at launch, with an additional $5–10 million required annually for updates, servers, and ongoing support.

The Total Cost of PUBG

When you factor in the costs of development, marketing, server management, and the development team, the total cost of PUBG is astronomical. While experts don’t share exact figures, they estimate PUBG has cost over $100 million to build and maintain.

Despite the high costs, PUBG has proven to be an incredibly lucrative venture. It has generated billions in revenue and continues to be one of the most popular games worldwide.

Case Study – Cloud of Venus By Cubix

Case Study Cloud of Venus

Project: Cloud of Venus — space RTS/strategy (Unity, C#)
Developer / Partner: Cubix (cubix.co)
Duration: ~1 year (prototype → launch)
Core tech: Unity, C#, GameSparks (backend), cross-platform build pipeline

Executive Summary

Cloud of Venus is a focused, hero-based space RTS built in ~1 year using Unity and GameSparks. We delivered polished visuals, adaptive AI, and competitive match flows while keeping infrastructure and live-ops costs far lower than a battle-royale title.

What We Built

Hero archetypes (Assaulter, Sniper, Warrior) with unique abilities
Resource systems (gold, gas), captureable boost stations
Tactical PvP/PvE arenas with exploration and expansion mechanics
Adaptive AI and matchmaking using GameSparks backend
Polished UI/UX, animations, sound design, and performance optimizations

Team & Timeline (typical for 1 year)

Project Manager: 1 (full-time)
Game Developers (Unity front + backend): 3–5
Game Designers (systems, UI/UX): 1–2
3D Artists & Animators: 2–4
QA Testers: 1–2
Sound Designer / Composer: 1 (Part-time)
DevOps / Backend engineer (GameSparks integration): 1 (Part-time)

Estimated Cost Breakdown (one-time launch + Year-1 ops)

All ranges are realistic estimates for a focused Unity RTS delivered in 12 months:

Core development (design, engineering):$300K – $800K
Art & animation (characters, VFX, UI): $100K – $300K
Sound & music: $10K – $40K
QA & testing: $20K – $70K
Project management & overhead:$40K – $120K
Backend services & hosting (GameSparks + matchmaking): $10K – $60K
Marketing & user acquisition (targeted): $30K – $150K
Live ops/updates (Year 1): $40K – $150K

Estimated total (launch + Year-1): $550K – $1.7M

(Lower end = lean indie approach; upper end = higher polish, more content, larger UA push.)

Recurring Annual Costs (post-launch, typical)

Servers/backend scaling: $10K – $80K / year
Live-ops team (updates, balance, events): $40K – $200K / year
Ongoing marketing: $20K – $150K / year

Monetization & Retention (What We Implemented)

In-app purchases: hero skins, cosmetics, resource packs
Seasonal content & events to drive retention and repeat purchases
Battle/season pass or progression unlocks (optional)
Targeted community marketing and influencer seeding for niche RTS audiences

Key Challenges We Solved

Tight performance/visuals balance on mobile with Unity optimizations.
Fast prototyping of AI behaviors and match rules to iterate quickly.
Matchmaking and persistent data using GameSparks to avoid building heavy server stack.
Cost-conscious live ops design so monthly sustain costs remained modest.

Building the Next Global Hit with Cubix

At Cubix, we understand the financial and technical depth required to launch and sustain games like PUBG. Our case studies, from multiplayer shooters to large-scale mobile battle royale projects, show that with the right strategy, technology, and talent, ambitious game ideas can become global successes.