SuperData, a Nielson company, recently released its 2019 Year in Review. Their report focuses on “the health of digital games and interactive media market.” It’s a guide into what was most popular in 2019 and what trends may be coming in 2020.
The report highlights the continued success of Fortnite, which has continued to bring in billions in 2019.
SuperData revealed that Fornite generated $1.8 billion in 2019. Though this is less than 2018, which saw the game bring in $2.4 billion, it’s still a massive amount. According to their report, Fortnite was the most profitable free-to-play game in 2019.
Fortnite recently released “Chapter 2” earlier this year, giving fans even more content to enjoy in the free-to-play game.
Fortnite Chapter 2 allows players to drop in to a new world featuring 12 new locations. There’s more gameplay like swimming, fishing, driving motorboats, and more. Combat was upgraded, along with new ways to heal players’ squads, and the new battle pass helps players level up faster through a new XP system.
Teaming up with other popular brands, including Marvel’s Avengers and Star Wars, also helped increase interest in the popular title.
Fortnite has been highly successful in being in profit, even though the title is marketed as free-to-play. May players are willing to purchase in-game items to give them an upper-hand in gameplay.
Other profitable free-to-play games in 2019 included Dungeon Fighter Online and Honour of Kings, which both brought in $1.6 billion. League of Legends and Candy Crush Saga were also popular, with both making $1.5 billion in the past year. Pokémon Go made $1.4 billion for Niantic and Nintendo.
Digital game sales overall have increased since 2018. Digital sales revenue reached $109.4 billion, according to the 2019 report.
Fortnite continues to be popular with gamers and streamers. According to an end-of-the-year report from streaming software StreamElements, Fortnite was the number one watched game on Twitch in 2018. 2019 saw slightly different results as “Riot Games’ League of Legends took back the #1 position thanks to Fortnite’s drop in hours rather than League’s own growth (7%). Despite the successful launch of Fortnite Chapter 2 and the Fortnite World Cup Finals, Fortnite had the biggest year-over-year drop among the top games. Its 27% drop amounted to 336M hours.”
Fortnite is currently available for PC/Mac, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Android/iOS.