Developer: Epic Games
Based: North Carolina, US
Released: March 15th, 2018
Genre: Battle Royale
Where it found success: Worldwide
Epic’s battle royale sensation Fortnite is in a unique position in the industry – it’s a cross-platform title available on PC, consoles and mobile, offering the exact same experience.
It’s an impressive technological feat by the team and the company’s Unreal Engine, helping to spur on a new cross-platform gaming trend that actually works. You can check out our interview with Epic Games’ Arjan Brussee about how the team made this all possible in Fortnite.
Not just a game but a cultural phenomenon, in 2018 Epic’s free-to-play battle royale sensation Fortnite made $2.4 billion across platforms, according to SuperData.
That made it by far the world’s top-earning game, above Nexon’s Dungeon Fighter Online ($1.5 billion), Riot Games’ League of Legends ($1.4 billion) and Niantic’s Pokemon Go ($1.3 billion).
When it comes to tracking mobile sales, things are slightly more complex as while the title is available on the App Store – where it’s a regular top grosser – Epic has sidestepped the Google Play store on Android in favour of its own launcher.
Sensor Tower estimates that as of February 2019, the game made $500 million in 326 days on iOS alone.
For some perspective, it reportedly took Supercell’s Clash Royale 389 days and Tencent’s Honor of Kings 405 days to reach the milestone.
It’s not just the sales that make Fortnite one of the most high-profile games around, its cultural impact has been significant, bringing with it glory and controversy, with Epic sued on numerous occasions for its use of certain dance emotes.
In February 2019, the game made history by hosting a DJ Marshmello concert that was attended by 10 million concurrent players. That figure doesn’t include those who watched it online.
That number makes it the all-time biggest concert in the world. The current Guinness World Record holder for a live event is Rod Stewart, who performed back in 1993 to 3.5 million people in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Fortnite offers a glimpse of what’s possible for games as a destination, rather than simply just their core, functional gameplay. And as it reportedly closes in on 250 million players, Epic may have more special events like this up its sleeve in future.
Epic Games took home Game of the Year for Fortnite at the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2019 in association with Game Insight. It also bagged the accolade for Best Developer on the night.
Epic Games was named as the top mobile games studio in the world in the PocketGamer.biz Top 50 Developer list for 2018.