Popular battle royale game Fortnite, developed by Epic Games, has now cross 200 million players across all platforms. This is a huge increase over the 40 million users reported back in January this year, and shows that 2018 has clearly been a good year for the popular cross-platform game. Alongside the total number, Fortnite has also reported a peak concurrent player count of 8.3 million users, suggesting that plenty of people are actually playing the game.
The figures are relatively low when compared to rival PUBG Mobile, which boasts of 20 million daily active players and an estimated 400 million total players. PUBG‘s early accessibility on Android and popularity in markets such as India and China have driven it to greater success, even as Fortnite grows its popularity in markets such as the US and Europe that favor iOS smartphones.
The online gaming space continues to be incredibly lucrative for successful players, as Epic Games rakes in millions of dollars in revenue per month only from Fortnite. The game is itself free, backed by the freemium model that enables in-app purchases for items such as clothing, weapons and other upgrades. Growing user numbers has benefited Fortnite and its developer Epic Games, and the revenues are particular high thanks to the game’s popularity in developed markets such as the US.
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While the game enjoys plenty of standard user popularity, Fortnite is also seeing interest in the e-sports space. A tournament has just been announced with a $1 million total prize pool, showing just how much potential there is in the mobile gaming space. And while PUBG Mobile might be ahead on sheer numbers for now, it’s only a matter of time before Fortnite catches up.
