Fortnite was/is very popular. You already knew that.
But now there’s a dollar figure, a massive 10-digit one, to both back that statement up and simultaneously drive it home. According to a document that was made public because of the ongoing legal battle between Epic Games and Apple regarding the latter company’s App Store practices (leading to a trial that began Monday in California) we have learned that Fortnite generated $5 billion in 2018, the first full year it was out following its release (for reference it came out in summer 2017). In 2019 it followed that up by making $4 billion more. Those are just round numbers. In total it made more than $9 billion in that two-year run.
Certainly worth noting is that those figures don’t reflect the title’s overall net financial gains. But in those two years Epic reported $5.5 billion in profits. The document also includes what the company predicted it’d make in 2020, but a public financial statement wasn’t given out so there’s no way to check that.
Now obviously Fortnite was the big moneymaker for Epic, but that company also had some other games/technologies that did well relative to gaming overall. For example, Rocket League, which Epic acquired in 2019, generated $108 million over the same two-year span. Epic’s engine, which is used by other developers, and also by the TV/film industry, brought in $221 million for the company in 2018-19. Also the Epic Games Store, which didn’t come out until 2018 was wrapping up, brought in $235 million.
Anyway, as for the trial, as we said that started Monday (today). According to Gamespot it’ll run from Monday-Thursday for the next three weeks before a decision is rendered by a judge. Also it was reported that the case got off to a bumpy start when gaming culture collided with legal culture by way of the live online audience screaming “free Fortnite” for nearly 20 minutes, in apparent reference to getting the title back to mobile devices, until the court muted the line.
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