Fortnite Made $9 Billion in Two Years, While Epic Games Store Has Yet to Turn a Profit


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We knew Fortnite was making Epic Games a boatload of money, now we have an idea of how much. Across all platforms, Fortnite made over $9 billion in 2018 and 2019 combined: $5.5 billion in 2018 and $3.7 billion in 2019.This is according to court documents that dropped today as part of the Epic vs. Apple anti-trust suit. The documents was filed in January 2020, so before there was any data for how much Fortnite would make in 2020. At the time Epic was projecting it would bring in a decreased $2.8 billion in 2020 due to market saturation, players falling off over time, and fewer players wanting to buy cosmetic upgrades.

Though we don’t have actual numbers, mobile analytics firm Sensor Tower has projected that Fortnite on iOS alone brought in about $1.2 billion in revenue before it was removed from the App Store.In total, Epic Games as a company made over $5.6 billion in revenue in 2018 alone, and $4.2 billion in 2019. During his testimony in today’s hearing, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney confirmed that Epic Games had made $5.1 billion in 2020. This is a major surge from the company’s projections listed in the financial document of only $3.6 billion for the year, with revenue likely getting a major boost from stay-at-home orders through the COVID-19 pandemic. Sweeney also confirmed that Fortnite now has 400 million total registered users.

But while Fortnite continues to thrive, Epic Games’ other venture, the Epic Games Store, has yet to turn a profit. The same financial document notes that the Epic Games Store brought in a total of $235 million in revenue in both 2018 and 2019 combined. But with costs included Epic lost around $181 million on the store in 2019 alone, expected to lose $273 million in 2020, and expects to lose $139 million in 2021. This is due in no small part to major payouts made to game developers for PC exclusivity, as well as regular free game deals that Epic pledged to pay developers for out of its own pocket.

Sweeney confirmed during the hearing today that he did not expect the Epic Games Store to turn a profit for another three to four years at least.

The Epic v. Apple face-off in a California court began today, with both parties delivering opening remarks earlier this morning before Tim Sweeney was called to give evidence. The trial is expected to continue for three weeks before a verdict is reached.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.



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