Fortnite made 2.4 billion in 2018 despite being free-to-play

Published on: January 17, 2019 / Update from: January 17, 2019 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein

Shortly after its launch in September 2017, Fortnite Battle Royal took over the lives of millions of teenagers around the world and became definitely the biggest gaming craze of the past year. In just over a year, Fortnite had amassed 200 million registered players, and although the cross-platform game was freely accessible, it also became a major financial success for its developer, Epic Games.

According to a recent report from SuperData , a digital gaming research firm recently acquired by Nielsen, the game generated $2.4 billion in revenue last year, the largest annual revenue for a game in history. Digital gaming revenue, including mobile games and PC and console games delivered digitally, was $109.8 billion last year, including $61.3 billion from mobile games. Interestingly, free-to-play titles accounted for the lion's share of this, with players spending $87.7 billion on additional features and virtual goods for their favorite games.

As the graphic below shows, Fortnite was by far the biggest free-to-play title of 2018, but it was by no means the growing industry's only cash cow. According to SuperData, eight more free-to-play games surpassed the billion mark in 2018, showing the biggest trend in game monetization.

Shortly after its launch in September 2017, Fortnite Battle Royal took over the lives of millions of teenagers around the world, becoming what was definitely the biggest gaming hype of the past year. Within little more than a year, Fortnite had amassed 200 million registered players and despite being free-to-play, the cross-platform game also turned into a major financial success for its developer Epic Games.

According to a recent report by SuperData , a digital gaming research company recently acquired by Nielsen, the game generated $2.4 billion in revenue last year, the biggest annual take for any game in history. Digital games revenue, including mobile games as well as PC and console games delivered digitally, amounted to $109.8 billion last year, including $61.3 billion from mobile games. Interestingly, free-to-play titles accounted for the lion's share of that total, with players spending $87.7 billion on additional features and virtual goods for their favorite games.

As the following chart shows, Fortnite was by far the biggest free-to-play title of 2018, but it was by no means the only cash cow of the growing industry. According to SuperData, eight other free-to-play games passed the billion-dollar mark in 2018, illustrating the biggest trend in game monetization.

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