Going into 2019, Fortnite continues to thrive in the gaming economy, eating up hours of players’ times. Now we know how well the game is doing on the financial front as well. The hugely popular online game made almost $2.5 billion in 2018.
Fortnite is a ‘freemium’ online game, meaning that it is free to play, but you can make in-game purchases to enhance your experience. So while tens of millions of people are playing the game for free, the sale of virtual items, virtual money, and the game’s all-important seasonal ‘Battle Pass’ have net the game almost two and a half billion dollars in one year alone. Fortnite started in the summer of 2017, but took off in 2018 thanks to efforts to make the game multi-platform. While many online games can only be played on a handful of platforms, with players using the same platform as you, Fortnite can be played across seven gaming platforms. Players can also interact across platforms, meaning that if you are playing the game on an Xbox and your friend is playing on their Apple computer, you can still play together.
The ‘freemium’ business model has swept across mobile devices in recent years, and the freemium gaming economy is worth tens of billions of dollars. The exact figure varies depending on which games can be described as ‘freemium’ games, but there is no doubt that the industry is thriving going into 2019.
