In just seven month’s battle royale sensation Fortnite for iOS had grossed more than $300 million worldwide, according to Sensor Tower.
The market intelligence firm estimates that in the last week alone the hit title has generated nearly $20 million. It follows the launch of Season Six in the game.
Players are said to have spent on average $1.5 million a day on the iOS version since launch. That has jumped to $2.5 million since the release of Season Six.
Much of the title’s popularity hails from the US, where it’s said to have 65 per cent of its player base.
Mobile heavyweights
Fortnite’s 200-day iOS performance is estimated to have beaten mobile heavyweights such as Clash Royale ($228m), Honor of Kings ($121m) and Knives Out ($114m).
It should be noted that Honor of Kings was only available in China at launch, while Knives Out was released initially without any monetisation.
Fortnite still lags behind Niantic’s Pokemon Go, however. That title took just 113 days to hit the $300 million landmark
As for Fortnite’s Android performance, it’s said to have grossed more than $60 million worldwide to date. That’s despite not being available on Google Play.
Avoiding Google Play
Speaking to PocketGamer.biz back in August, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said the company wanted to go straight to the consumer, rather than through Google Play, and lamented the economics of the 70/30 royalty fee.
Fortnite is available through the App Store, an ecosystem that Epic Games is unable to work around.
“The 30 per cent store tax is a high cost in a world where game developers’ 70 per cent must cover all the cost of developing, operating and supporting their games,” said Sweeney.
“There's a rationale for this on console where there's enormous investment in hardware, often sold below cost, and marketing campaigns in broad partnership with publishers.
“But on open platforms, 30 per cent is disproportionate to the cost of the services these stores perform, such as payment processing, download bandwidth and customer service.
“We’re intimately familiar with these costs from our experience operating Fortnite as a direct-to-customer service on PC and Mac.”
