Fortnite, Epic Games' flagship title, has enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity since it launched in 2017. And judging by the numbers, it doesn't look like the battle royale game's dominance will end anytime soon.
Eurogamer reported that Superdata, a Nielsen company that tracks global video game spending, indicated that Fortnite was the top-earning game of 2019, with $1.8 billion in revenue worldwide. Other top earners last year include Pokemon Go, FIFA, Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto 5. While the numbers for Fortnite are still very large, this figure represents a sizeable drop from 2018, when the game earned $2.4 billion in revenue.
According to Superdata, a drop like this is known as "stabilization," which usually follows a game's initial launch. Still, it's a testament to how popular Fortnite has become that it continues to churn out such large sums after two years. The game came out at a time when the battle royale genre was on the rise, with rival PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds releasing around the same time. With colorful environments and easy-to-learn gameplay, Fortnite has easily become the more popular battle royale game. Since then, Epic Games' conglomerate has enjoyed a large player base and continued updates, including themed "seasons" that added new weapons and POIs. The popularity of Fortnite has also led to a growing Esports community that features some of the most prominent Twitch streamers.
With all that said, Fortnite has remained an incredibly popular game despite some of the controversial practices of its developer. Epic Games used the massive revenue they acquired from the popular game to launch the Epic Games Store, a video game software site that looks to compete with Steam. The company has also engaged in some practices that have enraged some gamers in an effort to become the top distribution platform.
It all started when Epic Games announced that they would be offering timed exclusive games on their service before other stores, beginning with the PC launch of Metro Exodus. This announcement angered many, prompting users to review bomb the game on Steam. Despite the fans outcry, several other big games followed suit, including Ooblets, Phoenix Point and Darq.
Game exclusivity isn't the only thing that has caused controversy for Epic Games. Due to the company's relationship with Chinese investor Tencent, which owns 4o% of Epic Games along with investments in both Activision and Ubisoft, some have accused the Epic Games store as being a front for spyware. These claims came from a user on Reddit, who stated that Tencent has ties to the Chinese government and is using the store to collect data from its users and selling it. The Reddit post claims that data miners have found some oddities within the free-to-download Epic Games app that they believe allows the app to steal your personal data. Epic Games CEO has denied the accusations, saying that the company maintains many close relationships with a lot of its investors, and Tencent just happens to be the biggest.
But Fortnite continues to thrive amidst the controversies from its developer. And with several more seasons of content and tie-in deals on the way, the battle royale giant train doesn't seem any closer to returning to the station.