Fortnite — a free video game — is a billion-dollar money machine

Epic
Games

• A new report estimates that “Fortnite: Battle
  Royale” has generated a billion dollars in revenue.
• The report says that the free-to-play game’s revenue
  came entirely from in-game purchases, even though the virtual
  goods give players no competitive advantage.
• This means that Fortnite has now taken in more money
  than several of last year’s highest worldwide-grossing
  blockbusters, including “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,”
  Marvel Studios’ “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” and “Wonder Woman;”
  and more than double the gross worldwide earnings of the
  latest Star Wars flick, “Solo.”

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“Fortnite: Battle Royale,” the free video game mode that took the
world by storm last Fall, is a billion dollar business. That’s
according to a
new report by SuperData, which estimates that the game has
generated more than $1 billion in revenue across all platforms.

For some perspective, this means that Fortnite has now made more
money than several of last year’s highest worldwide-grossing
blockbuster films, including “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,”
Marvel Studios’ “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” and “Wonder Woman;” and
more than double the gross worldwide earnings of the latest
Star Wars flick, “Solo.”

The report points out that the revenue comes entirely from
in-game purchases, which — in Fortnite’s case — offer no
competitive advantage to the game. In the game, an entirely
optional $10 Battle Pass allows players to earn and collect
in-game currency called V-bucks, which they can spend on
costumes, accessories and dance moves for their playable
character. But if you don’t want to play the game enough to
unlock these perks, you can also purchase more V-bucks with real
bucks, at a rate of 1,000 V-bucks for $9.99.

The most expensive character outfits — called “skins” in the
gaming world — go for 2,000 V-bucks, or $20.

Fortnite was not the first game to bring the battle royale genre
the to the masses. Games like DayZ, H1Z1, and
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds popularized the “Hunger
Games”-style formula, in which a hundred players are dropped onto
a shrinking play area, and must scavenge for weapons and supplies
in an effort to be the last man standing. 

At launch, the game was available for PC and PlayStation 4.
Today, it can be played for free on PCs, any gaming console, and
on mobile iOS devices.

Fortnite: Battle Royale was first introduced as a free-to-play,
early access mode of the original “Fortnite” title, a $60 zombie
survival game that creators at Epic Games had been developing for
more than five years.

The “Battle Royale” mode has now become vastly more popular than
the original game — so much so that it is widely referred to with
the full game’s shorter title — thanks in large part to attention
from celebrities and a large group of prominent video game
streamers, like Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, who play the game on live
streaming platforms like Twitch or YouTube Gaming for millions of
fans to watch.

Fortnite has, in turn, helped Blevins, a former professional
esports athlete, become a celebrity in his own right, complete
with multi-million-dollar sponsorships, official merchandise, and
an invitation to the 2018 ESPY Awards.

Since Fortnite has skyrocketed the  battle royale genre to
worldwide popularity, several other video game series have sought
to emulate their success, and they’re right to do so. SuperData
predicts that games which feature a battle royale mode will earn
12 percent of all gaming revenue in 2018. Most notably, the
upcoming installment of “Call of Duty: Black Ops” will feature
the franchise’s first take on battle royale. 

The data shows that Fortnite saw its largest spike in players
early this year, and at the time, many speculated that the free
game was simply experiencing a fleeting moment of hype that would
quickly dissipate.

Today, ten months after its launch in 2017, Fortnite is still the
most-streamed and most-watched game on Twitch, an this impressive
benchmark has placed the game among the most popular video games
of all time, and signals that Fortnite is going to continue to be
very profitable for a very long time.