New data suggests that Fortnite has made Epic Games at least $500 million in revenue since launching on iOS. That makes the game the fastest to reach that milestone, and one of the most profitable iOS titles of the past year. That’s especially impressive considering that the Fortnite iOS revenue only accounts for a portion of the game’s total revenue.
Sensor Tower data confirmed that Fortnite generated half a billion dollars in just 326 days following its March 15 launch on iOS. The game beat previous records set by Clash Royale and Honor of Kings, which each took over a year to hit the same revenue milestone. Fortnite generated more than $1.5 million every day since it launched in mid-March. According to Sensor Tower, 64 percent of that money came from players in the United States.
Apple’s 30 percent revenue split suggests it made over $150 million simply from having the game on the Apple store. Unlike iOS, Fortnite‘s Android app bypasses the Google Play store and gives Epic the entirety of the sum spent on Android. The free-to-play game was ranked ninth worldwide based on iOS revenue last year, and sixth for games only.
While half a billion dollars is nothing to scoff at, the overall earnings from Fortnite are astronomical. Nielsen’s Super Data reported that Epic Games has earned $2.4 billion from Fortnite alone, and the company’s total revenue skyrocketed past $3 billion for the year.
Epic Games’ Fortnite became the biggest game of 2018, netting the company record profits and breaking records regularly. Fortnite unique players topped 200 million by late November as the game also hit a record 8.3 million concurrent players in that time. The popular battle royale game quickly dethroned PUBG and has spawned a number of competitors vying for the same market.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4‘s Blackout mode and EA’s recently released Apex Legends are newer competitors in the battle royale genre. EA’s Battlefield 5 still has its battle royale mode, Firestorm, set to come out in the coming months. Epic Games will doubtless continue to dominate the genre with Fortnite‘s blend of cartoony visuals and constant updates.
