Analyst: Fortnite revenue was 22 percent higher than PUBG in February

By admin On Mar 22, 2018

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According to analyst firm SuperData Research, Fortnite revenue in February was higher than PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds revenue. Epic Games would have brought in $126 million with Fortnite, while PUBG was good for $103 million.

SuperData states that PUBG peaked in December, when the game came out of Early Access and also released for the Xbox One. However, Fortnite would still be on the rise, and February was the first month in which sales from that game exceeded PUBG’s. It is not clear exactly what the analyst firm bases the turnover figures on. However, SuperData also indicates in other areas with measurable figures that Fortnite is more popular than PUBG.

For example, in the last week of February, there were 14 million unique viewers on Twitch who watched Fortnite streams. During the same period, there were 8.7 million unique viewers for PUBG streams. The popularity of Fortnite seems to have increased considerably in a short time; the game had 6.1 million viewers on Twitch at the end of January, compared to 8.5 million for PUBG at the time.

Fortnite’s popular Battle Royale mode is free to play. Epic Games only gets its revenue from microtransactions. The PC version of PUBG costs about thirty euros and also has in-game purchases.

The analyst firm argues that Fortnite Battle Royale’s growing success is due to its accessibility. The game is free and was released for consoles back in September, a few months before PUBG came to Xbox. Also, the learning curve of Fortnite would be easier and the game is more child-friendly, thanks to the cartoon-like graphics.

Both Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds are also appearing for smartphones and are likely to further increase their target audience and revenue. Tencent, the Chinese internet giant that operates the mobile version of PUBG, released the versions for Android and iOS this week. Epic Games has started a test of the iOS version of Fortnite.

SuperData expects that there will be more competition in the near term when it comes to battle royale games. Fortnite and PUBG are currently out there, but major publishers such as Activision Blizzard, EA and Ubisoft probably want to get a share of the success. Such parties have deep pockets to invest in a comparable game. The analyst firm notes that the publishers should not wait long, because it is difficult to persuade players to switch to another game.