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