NEWS: Epic's Fortnite Makes $2.4 Billion in 2018

Andy Bassett

Fortnite, the free to play battle royale shooter, generated $2.4 billion during 2018.
Read the news.

peahead

Gambling for kids that all it is, i cant stand micro transactions.

dts77

Call me old school, but when I buy a game, I want it to include everything needed, even if I have to unlock them somehow in game ect, and not to have to pay extra on top..

Probably why I haven't got into online gaming

terencejames

To be fair, the purchases make no difference to the core gameplay and everyone who buys the season pass knows this. It's purely aesthetic. They're not like EA, in my opinion. I haven't spent a penny on it and still happily clock up a couple hours a week. Epic have absolutely nailed it.

Waynej

It's quite clever (and devious) of Epic really, they're essentially taking advantage of kids - and I do agree this is basically an introduction to gambling... but in the minds of youngsters Epic are putting Fortnite in a good light amongst kids and their friends, for one reason only - the game is actually free.

So naturally kids will love this, all their friends from school can play together, no one is excluded for not being able to blow £40 on a game. The kids are that addicted to it that the first excuse to buy skins will be 'But Mum, the game is free, all my friends have it and they have skins I don't have - Pleaaaaase!' And the madness rolls from their...

furryhobnob

A lad at work was saying his lad wanted to buy some skins as his mates had them, being the doting dad he set his card up so he could spend £7.99 ish, 3 weeks later his lad had spent £79.99 on more skins, he had forgot to take his card details off or password protect it so his lad literally went nuts buying whatever, I personally would much prefer to spend £50 on a game and it not cost me a penny more, fair play to epic though and I can see other developers going down this route of free game with micro-transactions instead

mikeybabes2

My son likes this game a lot, and he has asked me for a few quid here and there which I have happily done so. The thing is that this game seems to have caught his imagination in a big way, and normally he would have played a couple of games by now which would have cost a fair bit more than the odd skin here and there. They are obviously doing something right as he and all his schoolfriends haven't burnt themselves out on it yet.

The only problem is, as ever, trying to keep the time spent on it down to sensible levels. ...

terencejames

Epic are playing this brilliantly. The game is updated constantly with special events and an ever changing map. You can play for free and the gaming experience is no different to those that pay for skins or the season pass. A £7.99 season pass lasts about 10 -12 weeks and only gives you access to additional challenges but nothing that changes the core gameplay and nothing that gives an advantage over anyone playing for free. Epic are updating the game so often that I personally wouldn't begrudge paying £7.99 every 3 months. It's a cross between Minecraft and Call of Duty so you can see why the kids love it. And middle aged people too!

Waynej

Yup, nephew is into this big time. Normally he asks for a new Call of Duty or FIFA for Xmas or Birthdays, he doesn't want any of them. I thought he'd be all over COD Black Ops 4 as this has a similar Battle Royale mode to Fortnite and PUBG, but nope, not interested.

Just wants skins for Fortnite. It's obviously a waste of money, but as you point out if the price falls in the same ball park as 1 or 2 big games a year, I guess it's not really costing any extra - even if it is poor value for what you get.

Being cross-play I think this is a huge boost. Some families might only have an Xbox, another a PS4 or Nintendo Switch, etc. If they can actually party up and communicate and play together, I can actually see why they find it so appealing.

Where I think parents should be a bit more concerned, other than keeping their credit cards locked away (lol), is that some parents might not realise the extent to which the game is cross-play. Hell, you can even play it on some mobile phones and tablets. I can picture it now during dinner breaks in school, they'll all be stood around staring at their phones, playing bloody Fortnite, eager for that final bell to buzz so they can run home to the bigger screen.

I'm actually quite jealous, I'd have loved that for my school years!

D1gita1

I now download most of my games, and for the last 12 months I've stopped doing it. I have a lot of games I've barely played due to not having a lot of time, and the odd game has been rubbish which is disappointing when you end up stuck with it.

EA have been charging double for games for a few years now, with pay to win strategies, time released content locked behind an add on pay-wall on the first release, and season passes. Lots of developers have followed that trend, and its also a big part of why my buying of games is grinding to a halt. The focus has been on increasing revenue to boost profitability and market share value to keep investors happy above all else. That bubble can only burst eventually and I hope it does as the greed is going to ruin the industry at some point, either for developers or gamers.

This is a much better way of doing things and the fact they are making all this money from it shows that all you really need is a well-made game, thats fun, and gives people what they want, and they'll happily purchase optional extras and spend good money anyway. This game wasn't for me as I wasn't that struck on the building aspect, but I got to try it without it costing me a penny. For the most part I hate paid add-ons, but that goes away when the game costs nothing to buy, and as long as it never becomes pay-to-win, I hope the future of gaming looks more like this, and the Xbox game pass.