Epic Games has made more than $15 million on its iOS port of its smash hit game Fortnite in its first three weeks on the market.
Data collected by mobile analytics firm Sensor Tower shows that Fortnite on iOS is now out-earning mobile heavyweights like Candy Crush Saga and Clash of Clans on a weekly revenue basis. The company earned $6.4 million from in-app purchases in the last seven days, which compares to $5.8 million earned by Candy Crush Saga over the same period of time.
Most mobile games require you to pay money in order to advance your progress in the game. However, Fornite only sells silly costumes, in-game dance animations, cosmetic items and a three-month subscription to Battle Pass for $9.99.
The game’s success is due to a mixture of smart timing, the game’s free-to-play model and the growing popularity of the battle royale genre.
Fortnite’s mobile version has succeeded because it is an exact copy of the console versions of the game. Epic Games is also letting you keep your progress and cosmetics cached across all platforms. This is probably the main reason why most users are comfortable spending more money on the mobile version of the game.
The company removed the invite-only requirement for iOS users early this week. Sensor Tower reports that the company saw its daily mobile revenue triple from around $600,000 to $1.8 million since the game launched on March 15th.
The analytics firm estimates that Fornite on iOS has been downloaded 11 million times. It seems as though mobile sales will continue to boost the company’s revenue over the next coming months.
