Citing a source with knowledge of the company’s business, TechCrunch is reporting that Epic Games apparently grossed a $3 billion profit for this year, thanks to Fortnite which not only became the world’s most popular game but also helped the company grow its valuation to $15 billion.
While Fortnite is a free to play game, it makes money by selling digital items. Epic, being a private company, keeps its financials closely guarded but digging beyond the $3 billion figure, it gives a pretty good idea as to just how big a money-spinner Fortnite is.
According to the most recent data from analytics firm Sensor Tower, iOS users alone were spending $1.23 million per day on Fortnite. That helped the game bank $37 million in November and take its total earnings within Apple’s platform to more than $385 million.
“While Fortnite is its most prolific release, Epic also makes money from other games, Unreal Engine and a recently launched online game store that rivals Steam. Epic’s big differentiator for the store is that it gives developers 88 percent of their revenue, as opposed to Value — the firm behind Steam — which keeps 30 percent, although it has added varying rates for more successful titles.”
Games are forecast to generate nearly $40 billion in revenue in China this year, according to market researcher Newzoo.
