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State of the Screens

Fortnite tops SuperData’s 2018 chart with $2.4 billion digital revenue

By January 24, 2019No Comments

Fortnite generated $2.4B in revenue last year making it the top grossing game of the year.

Top 5 free-to-play games by revenue:
1)
Fortnite (Epic Games) — $2.4B
2)
Dungeon Fighter Online (Nexon) — $1.5B
3)
League of Legends (Riot Games/Tencent) — $1.4B
4)
Pokemon GO (Niantic) — $1.3B
5)
Crossfire (Neowiz Games) — $1.3B

How do free-to-play games make money? These games are free for anyone to play but generate significant revenue from microtransactions that allow the user to purchase add-ons (clothing, dance moves, etc.).

Mind blown: Fortnite generated $2.4B last year primarily from players wanting better digital clothes and dance moves!

FYI: Netflix recently said that they view Fortnite as a closer competitor than HBO due to the battle for screen time.

Flashback: Fortnite is generating more revenue than any other free game ever

Global video game revenue by year (% growth):
1) 2017 — $99B
2) 2018 — $110B (↑ 11%)

Global video game revenue by platform (% of total):
1) Mobile — $61B (56%)
2) PC — $36B (33%)
3) Console — $13B (11%)

Global video game revenue by purchase type (% of total):
1) Free-to-play — $88B (80%)
2) Premium — $22B (20%)

Interesting: Asia and North America each prefer the opposite purchase type between free-to-play and premium.

More #1: Rick Fox wanted to get closer to his son, so he bought an esports team

More #2: Traditional sports look to new tech to survive

Michael Beach

Michael Beach is the Chief Executive Officer of Cross Screen Media, a media analytics and software company that enables marketers to plan, activate, and measure CTV and linear TV at the local level. Michael is also the founder and editor of State of the Screens, a weekly newsletter focused on video advertising that is a must-read for thought leaders in the advertising industry. He has appeared in such publications as PBS Frontline, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Axios, CNBC and Bloomberg, and on NPR’s Planet Money podcast.