Fortnite sales dropped 48% in January, but appeasement will not last long – TechCrunch



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If you thought Fortnite looked deadly, you might want to reconsider.

New figures from SuperData show that Fortnite's heavyweight was behind a significant step earlier this year. The revenue generated by the game on all platforms dropped by 48% between December 2018 and January 2019. It is noted that the month of December was a record month for the third-person multiplayer shooter, the fever Fortnite in full swing and holiday shopping. drive revenues to record levels.

While a 48% drop in revenue may seem like a life-threatening injury, the game's unique selling pattern and seasonal patterns mean we should not start preparing Fortnite obituaries any time soon. With a free template, Fortnite relies on in-game digital product purchases such as dance animations and character skins designed to generate revenue. In the absence of recurring subscription fees, apart from quarterly subscriptions, Fortnite's revenue would never follow the figures of a more traditional game.

Example: Fortnite Epic maker seems to have saved $ 3 billion in profit during the last year. In November, Sensor Tower data estimated that Fortnite players were spending 1.23 million dollars a day only on iOS. Given the agnosticism of the Fortnite platform, it is a flow among others, from the mobile to the console through the PC.

For Fortnite, a decrease in revenues does not necessarily indicate that the number of users is decreasing or that they are playing less overall; it simply means that people were less likely to spend money on virtual goods. These purchases are purely cosmetic and do not confer a significant competitive advantage. So it's a kind of strange metric to judge the current general state of health of the game, although it is obviously an important element for its activity.

A game like Fortnite is designed to be cyclical, with players entering new content. In December, the new version of Fortnite for Season 7 converged with the holidays, creating a powerful combination of revenue generated by the purchase of new virtual products, the exploration of a reinvented card, the time allowed to play and the new devices to try. In January, players were eager to see the next major update.

"This is probably due to the fact that season 7 started in December. Historically, we've seen a significant increase in Fortnite mobile revenue in the months when the new season begins, as the player base buys Mass Battle Passes, "TechCrunch Randy Nelson, Telephony Information Manager, told TechCrunch. Mobile Sensor Tower.

"The substantial decreases in the month following a new season are not new; The Fortnite iOS sales figure decreased by 33% between October and November 2018, according to our estimates, rising from 56 to $ 36.6 million … In summary, these peaks and valleys are common when the company is in business. we are looking at games based on seasonal pass monetization according to a schedule such as Fortnite.

Overall, the January SuperData figures show an overall 6% decline in digital gambling compared to previous years. If Epic was about to see Fortnite reach stratospheric users and last season's holiday revenue growth, the real test will be whether the game can keep its momentum until 2019, as emerging competitors are fighting for a piece of the cake. With Season 8, which should give the game a flurry of digital news later in the week, we should have a pretty good idea of ​​Fortnite's ability to stay before the new spring content comes to life.

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