Fortnite might not be to everybody's tastes, but there's no denying how successful it is – in fact, last year it made more moolah than any other video game – a feat it achieved in 2018, too.
According to Superdata, the game was the top earner in 2019 with a whopping $1.8 billion in revenue – although it's worth noting that it suffered a 25 percent drop on the $2.4 billion it made in 2018. Superdata feels that the drop reflects the stabilisation of the game's revenues after a sudden spike in popularity in 2018.
Here are the top 10 earners in full:
As you can see, Pokémon GO is also raking in the cash, bagging $1.4 billion in 2019 – an increase over the previous year. Interestingly, the report also found that free-to-play games accounted for 80 percent of all digital games revenue during the past 12 months.
By comparison, spending on PC and console 'premium' games – ones you actually have to pay for – dropped by 5 percent year-on-year. Here are the top earners:
The drop, according to Superdata, can be attributed to more big-hitters launching in 2018 than 2019.
[source mcvuk.com]
Comments 77
Unpopular opinion: Fortnite is one of the most poorly developed, graphically unimpressive, rushed, money-hungry abominations of a video game I've ever witnessed. It's also created a toxic fanbase. Not a fan of Fortnite. Glad some of y'all enjoy it, but it's sort of like gambling; for many, it's fun, for others, an addiction.
And probably a lot of unhappy parents after seeing their credit card bills.
@Lemonyoshi I wouldn't really say that's really that unpopular of an opinion. Plenty of people hate Fortnite.
GTAV is so ridiculous. Still wreaking in dough after how many years?
It’s insane how it makes money, it’s free to play right?
What do people pay for?
Yeah and I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here was the most watched TV show in the UK. Let's all watch it.
@Pikman that's the part I don't get either. These kids are buying cosmetics. JUST cosmetics...
Love Fortnite. It’s really well developed, graphically unique and identifiable, well paced (with developers quick to respond to issues), super fair MT driven F2P games I’ve ever played. I’m quite fortunate that the community in which I play is also pretty awesome (my son, my friends and one online community that I follow/ participate with).
I’ve spent tons on cosmetics over the last couple of years!
Balance
People spent 1.8 billion dollars on some virtual cosmetics that do absolutely nothing but make you look cool...why don't they just use their money to buy a better game?
@theiRiS That’s all I thought it was too. We need how much to sort the climate crisis?!
It’s a mad world, we’ve lost the plot
@Supadav03 : If Rockstar ported it to the Switch, GTAV will probably stay in the top 5 for another 6 years.
Not a fortnite player but credit to epic for keeping it fresh. So fresh that it’s off the hook
@Yoshinator people spend a lot more than that on essentially cosmetics in the real world, and I’m certain you have spent something to make you look “cool” as well. What’s the difference?
I will never understand the bashing of things that other people find entertainment with simply because it doesn’t entertain you.
I don't love Fortnite but I certainly don't hate it. As I understand it it is genuinely free to play, without play-to-win mechanics and without progress locked behind pay gates. There are far grubbier games out there.
Also, am I the only one who literally has no idea what the majority of those games in the top ten list actually are?
Ba ha ha, Pokemon Go got beaten by Candy Crush???
I don't even play Fortnite, and I say: Hating Fortnite is a bandwagon.
It's just again, the internet hipster machine disliking everything that gets too popular and cool with the kids, like Gangnam Style, Despacito, Frozen, Minecraft, Undertale.
Minecraft used to be the most hated game ever just because of popularity, but now that the kids who played Minecraft in the early 2010s are now grown up, they are saying that Minecraft is good while Fortnite is bad, "I'm glad that I grew up with Minecraft's pickaxe instead of Fortnite's pickaxe".
And people come up with the justification of "toxic fanbase" to justify their hate, but then proceed to act even worse than these fans.
Looking at both of those lists makes me aware why some big game developers are lazy as fu**...
Once they started subsidizing the Epic Game Store with the cash I am 100% cool with Fortnite making whatever cash it can.
They have given away (or sold for dirt cheap) a bunch of games I wanted.
Just like I do not complain about Microsoft's random Cash Cows. They keeping the lights on over at PC Game Pass 😅😉
@Yoshinator
Maybe because you're looking at the bigger number and not realizing or forgetting that the average person only spends like a few bucks on the game where as a new is much more. When grear games start being like 4.99 or something on the regular then you might be onto something.
@victordamazio
Facts dude. And I'll be the first to tell you that fortnite wore thin with me REAL quick, but I definitely agree with what you're saying. And I hardly hate the game. I simply do with it what I do with any/everything else that I'm not a fan of; I just don't bother with it.
Physical game sales dwindling and Barely a raise in digital games but this is booming. Kids these days.
Not a good sign for future investment in games. Proper games
All this says is that exploiting children is a good way to make money.
@victordamazio This is wildy inaccurate. I don't dislike the game of Fortnite so much the toxic fanbase. People obsess over a very generic game with no originality. Have you looked into why Fortnite was so successful? Many other companies were working on battle royale games but were in beta, Epic Games came along and saw a money bag. They rushed a trash game and released it. 8-14 year olds obsessed over Fortnite because the media pushed it so hard and don't have the attention span to play an in-depth REAL game. The fanbase is toxic, like it or not. Minecraft taught creativity and friendship. Fortnite teaches destruction and hatred between 'friends'. People play Minecraft with real life friends during a sleepover. People play Fortnite with people they met online while on a 3 night bender. Fortnite is everything Minecraft isn't. That's the problem!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh ok
A moment of silence for the parents credit cards
@Ajent I agree! I'm not WAY into it, but it's actually super fun and unique. Rides a perfect balance between being fair and fun even when free, but rewarding to those that pay without being cheap to others.
@victordamazio when something is cool, you and your friends enjoy it. When something is popular it has no meaning anymore - other than revenue. Their are exceptions, however they are minimal at best.
Toxicity always goes with popularity.
I've never hated it, that would just be silly. I certainly wasn't it's biggest fan for a long time but that was because i didn't understand it and was terrible at it. I now really enjoy it, And it's impressive how it's continually changing and being updated with new play modes.
I've spent $25 on the game this year, 2 battle passes and a few cosmetics.
I enjoy it, me and a few friends play every so often and it's fun, once I got the hang of building and actually shooting (I'm terrible at shooting games mind you), it became fun, especially season 2 with putting people in matches depending on rank.
And the battle passes reward you like crazy, they give you enough v bucks for the next season (if you don't spend it like me). And the Christmas gifts they have are awesome.
I've never seen a game less worthy of hatred or adoration. It's a solid and functional multiplayer game with surprisingly reasonable pricing for a free to play game. No more, no less.
I wonder if the free-to-play game model with neverending micro transactions will ever push the red line enough to get the regulation it likely deserves.
I must confess I've spent more than $30 in this game on cosmetic items. I'm not proud of myself.
...
Wait. Dungeon Fighter Online is still around? I thought it was taken down. I wonder if my account still works. Nexon, right? Or was that for Maple Story?
As fun as Fortnite is, it's not perfect. I wish all the items they sell would just be in a straight-up catalog instead of randomly showing up on a page. Being able to buy everything without having to go through V-bucks would be nice too; that's what made the Wave Rider pack such an easy purchase.
Another concern of mine is that the popularity of this type of game could lead to the death of offline gaming. I already have to worry about shelter and electricity expenses; I'd rather not have dependence on a stable internet connection on top of that.
Good for them! My kids have moved on from it mostly but still pop in on occasion to play with their buds. They had a lot of fun with it and definitely got their (my) money's worth!
@DrDaisy ditto. I've put about $30 into rocket league this year, and not proud of it.
@Woomy_NNYes Yeah, but at least you can play Rocket League offline. Once Fortnite's servers go down, it's all over. Plus I'd like to play it while travelling sometimes or practice with A.I. bots.
@Lemonyoshi - Dude, you can just say you hate the game, that's entirely cool. You don't have to make up a bunch of fictional assertions to vindicate it.
The game is well developed, the style is clean (though recently overused), and technically, its popularity put the whole genre on the map, leaving it to be experimented on by future developers.
But do I like Fortnite? HEEEELLLLL NO. The game is too much a grind, the community is ridden with many who cannot relax or accept some of us don't use mics, the building structure is strictly abusive from time to time, the RNG loot from the get-go is salty.
But honestly, the claim it was "rushed" is highly laughable. It's well known the feature was built to be an expansion style add-on for Save the World (which I liked more), but because Twitch streamers took that add-on to the next level, they filled out the gaps and pushed it forward, as the original game was not going to see the success Battle Royale was already seeing at the time of its release. All you're doing is spinning one hell of a tale for simply hating on Fortnite.
Hating on it is all game, dude. I do it too.
It's true that "toxic" fans are rampant in the world of video games... Pretty much like everything else. Remember when rabid Nintendo fans blamed Alison Rapp for American censorship in a few games and dug up enough dirt on her to get her fired?
Its one of those free to play games that require no in game purchases unless you want to TRY your hand at the battle pass to get the exclusive items in there. Everyone has the same chance of winning, regardless of the items they buy with real money. The map refresh is a pleasant change. I hadn't played since season 7 or so. This makes it feel new to me.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Hate it
Brilliant game. I wish I’d gotten in on the ground floor however I’m sure there will be a Fortnite Classic in about 15 years time.
Fortnite is a great game. People hate on it with an irrational hate. It's okay to not like it at all, like other stuff...
But it's deserving of the success. The gameplay is incredibly deep, the variety is high and no two matches are ever the same.
Really like it, tbh.
@Lemonyoshi How is it like gambling?
Any Fortnite Switch players here that wanna share with me what controller setting they suggest for building? I've been playing it on Switch for like 300 hours and I should be able to build way faster than I do.
@Dang69 I just mean Fortnite can be fun if played in moderation and with a healthy mindset, or it can become a problem if played addictively and in an aggressive mindset. Much like gambling.
@Lemonyoshi Fortnite isn't really graphically unimpressive just because it doesn't look realistic. Technically the Fortnite everyone hates and likes, or loves isn't even the actual game of Fortnite (Battle Royale). The actually game of Fortnite is the Save the World and Save the world is actually pretty good. The battle royale, on the other hand, is what they are talking about in the subject above. The battle royale is basically a crash grab because its the Free-To-Play aspect of the thing, and they add new things to the game almost every day which when they are gone they usually don't return so it makes people want to buy it. I do agree with you for the most part.
I love the game and occasionally buy new skins.
The reason Fortnite Battle Royale became so popular cause it was something no one really has seen before. The gameplay was like a normal battle royale and a bit cartoony to appeal to kids, the thing the change was that you could build witch it was actually fun to build. Other things people liked about it was it had cool traps, weapons, and even a wacky variety of skins(well not really at the start). But all in all its a worthwhile game that should be played with friends, even if you don't like it, it is still fun to play with a friend that likes it.
@Dang69 I could help you with that if you want.
What an absolute waste of money
@Lemonyoshi I’m not sure you’ve actually played the game or know very many 8-14 year olds. These aren’t toddlers.
@teamdave2002 I've played the game. All I'm saying is, it is very clearly a free game and I can't believe people spend money on it. As far as the age range, the demographic that plays this game, almoat regardless of age, is very childish. This isn't to say there aren't mature people that play Fortnite, nor is it a dig on the game itself or it's players. I've merely noticed the toxicity level of many that play this specific game is very high. Much like call of duty, but probably even worse.
Of course its nothing but mico transactions
I don't know about this game.
I installed it. And played one round that I supposedly won.
I won't let that go to my head though. Considering. The time of day, the region, the platform, and the fact that people say Chapter 2 gives new players A LOT of bots/fake opponents to defeat, so the kids won't feel defeated, and stop playing.
I didn't have much idea what I was doing. Playing a shooter without gyro- or IR-aiming felt archaic. The I was plunged into the mess that is the menu, where everything was trying to get my attention. A virtual mall, where everyone LOVES whatever it is Fortnite is.
It was like being in the Everything is Awesome music video. Complete with the overpriced coffee.
@JayJ I think you should go back and look up the word exploited, because you’re not using it correctly.
I played fornite. It is okay, but it kinda gets boring unless you are at a high level, or doing arena.
Fortnite Battle Royale is a great game but people are so competitive that it should have ranked match-making and more bots. Some people play Fortnite all day everyday and playing against them isn't fun. For them Fortnite is their whole life and the reason why they live and the problem is that you are their next victim! I'd like to try Save the World and I haven't played Chapter 2 yet.
@victordamazio Ah yes, the “everyone hates it because it’s popular” argument. You don’t see people here hating on Minecraft or FNaF a bunch.
Game designed to be attractive and addictive and filled with microtransactions is the biggest money maker.
shocked gasp
I hate more what it says about our willingness to play in to corporate hands and enable anti-consumer behaviors. It also proves how little self-control and consideration we have as human beings.
Fortnite didn't make any money off of me lol!
Okay?
Also, the FIFA games which thrive on predatory loot boxes despite being full priced and a lazy rehash every year raked it in like usual.
I'll never play fortnite. I really don't like the way the game looks. I saw clips of tournament play and was so turned off. It's really not for me but damn do kids like this game. My nephew asked if I played this game.
Run around for 20 minites looking for guns get sniped wait 15 minutes for the next game...
But hey guys, we got emotes and skins!
It’s a children’s game so of course it makes money. How many grandparents are shoving Xbox and PlayStation gift cards into birthday/Christmas/Hanukkah cards not knowing what the hell they’re giving little Tommy or Suzy?
I'm not sure I "hate" any videogame, but I feel like Fortnite is something akin to the lowest common denominator of gaming. It's so omnipresent that I guess for some people on the outside, it is currently akin to being synonymous with gaming. THAT does indeed bother me because gaming has come truly far. It encompasses a rich tapestry of experiences, falling no longer short of any other form of media, be it books, comics, film, TV, music or whatever.
Some of these experiences are violent, others are profoundly peaceful. Some are photorealsitic, others cover about any other approach to art known to man and some. Games like Fortnite, the way they are covered in the media and the bandwagon effect this creates, makes gaming seems so... small and narrow minded and yes, ultimately shallow - just as it detractors have been saying for 30 years now.
It would be a different story if I could honestly say, that I feel Fortnite has anything to say artistically on some level. But the only thing I can say about it, is that its utterly inoffensive. Well, aside from the fact, that it seems to intentionally pray on children with real-money implications, that is. Even if it didn't do that, for the life of me, I can't say engaging with Fortnite caused me any particular strong emotional or intellectual reaction.
Again though, I suppose that is exactly what it is supposed to do. Any strong reaction a piece of media evokes, makes it vulnerable to equally strong adverse reactions. That's just the rub then.
To be fair though, a similar argument could be made about any ONE game dominating public perception. Still, Minecraft was at least a game focused on intrinsically playful attributes of human nature, and thus attributes we associate for the most strongly positive with a strong focus on creativity - and none of that predatory business behavior.
Anyways, gaming is thriving despite all of that and maybe Epic will take all that money they earn and put it to good use somewhere ... with the Epic store!
@Audiogore0733 Sorry, didn't see your reply...yes please help me!
@Lemonyoshi OH I see what you meant - thought you were referring to the microtransactions (there's no loot boxes here).
@BlueOcean I feel like a lot of that is better fixed thru, yes better matchmaking, but I disagree with the bots. Bots are a bummer and cause a kind of psychological depressed feeling to happen after awhile. Like the thrill from the kill fades and you go, "oh probably a bot" or "YES...wait if that was a real human, would I have won?" A good way to get better is to play the teams mode where it's 20 players on side versus 20 players on the other with unlimited respawns. It's how I cut my teeth enough in the game that when I went back to Squads, I could survive, then eventually starting winning some.
@Dang69 The only season when I won some matches was Season 5 because I played the most and it was the first season that I played the game, too, so I was playing against people that were already experts -but in teams. However, the game gradually frustrated me and I found more and more competitive players and I was playing less and less until I became a casual player that only feels like playing sometimes. I am a "normal" player and I would like to play with and against normal players, I don't mind winning or losing but at least having a chance to last longer than two minutes. This game really needs ranked matches like other online games like Killer Instinct or Mario Kart. I want to have fun but I don't want to waste all day training for being a better player. It's not a sport, no matter what people say.
@BlueOcean I started playing during the Batman stuff in Sept last year and have put in...yikes...365 hours since. My issue with it is that my wins are either super easy or I just get destroyed by someone's team who has like one mobile/Switch player then someone else on Xbox at 60fps. You can tell by how immediate stuff feels. What makes it still fun for me is that I imagine someday I'll be having a 60fps with it and all of this will have been like when Goku trains in DBZ in with weight clothing in extra gravity, lol.
@Dang69 I have always played on Xbox One X though.
@Dang69 Sorry I haven't been on If you reply back I can friend you and we can play a bit.
@Audiogore0733 is there anyway to privately message it or do I have to open post it?
@Dang69 I'm not sure
@Audiogore0733 let me grab my code real quick, let me know u saw it then I'm gonna delete my post. Tiny bit careful on any open postings (I worked on a new biz pitch for identity theft stuff a few years ago and still get weird lol).
@Dang69 Okay Sorry about it taking awhile
@Dang69 I didn't get it sorry
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