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Tim Sweeney made Fortnite a phenomenon by doing something that seems crazy: he abandoned it.
This strategy has made him a billionaire.
In an industry plagued by monster hits like Candy Crush and Pokemon Go, Fortnite's popularity is not surprising. His income is. Between the release of the current version in September and the end of May, Fortnite reported more than $ 1.2 billion, according to SuperData Research. In early June, 125 million people played
which resulted in an increase in Epic Games revenues, created by Sweeney Company in the basement of his parents 27 years ago. Fortnite alone is on track to generate $ 2 billion this year, which makes the Cary, North Carolina-based cement maker worth between $ 5 billion and $ 8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires index. Sweeney, 47, is the majority shareholder
Fortnite is a global phenomenon, obsessively played by children, rappers, professional athletes and mature accountants. It's a royal battle where players face each other in a fight for weapons, resources and survival on a storm-ravaged island.
Over $ 40 for the game, players buy online V-bucks, a virtual currency that they can trade during the game for outfits, skins called, festive dances or special missions that can cost up to $ 20 each.
aside, they did something truly unique, which came with an exclusive perception, "said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities.Many of Fortnite's boutique accessories are available on a limited basis , prompting players to buy before the coveted items disappear from virtual shelves. "If you see another player in a leopard skin and go to the store and see that he's no longer available, you think: "Shoot, I have to go next time."
All this trade is reflected by According to analysts, "Epic's ratings have exploded alongside Fortnite's success," he said. said Timothy O. Shea, who covers the games at Jefferies Financial.However after multiple fellows from his peers Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard, Epic could be worth up to $ 14 billion, although buyers potential would require a discount "Because of questions about Fortnite's ability to support revenue growth," said O. Shea. . Although sales were expected to drop to $ 1 billion a year – half of its current estimate – the company could still reasonably command $ 7.5 billion in sales, Pachter said.
This is a boon to Sweeney and the Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings, which bought 40% of Epic in 2012 at a valuation of $ 825 million. We still do not know what impact Fortnite had on Tencent's balance sheet. Three analysts who cover the Shenzen-based firm said they had not yet considered the game in their ratings of the sum of the coins.
While most games reached their peak popularity shortly after launch, Fortnite still attracted millions of new users. six months later, thanks to a largely seductive aesthetic that is more harmful than graphic violence. Fans of celebrities such as rapper Drake and the former Villanova Wildcat Josh Hart (now with the Los Angeles Lakers) have pushed it further into mainstream consciousness. French footballer Antoine Griezmann scored a goal in the World Cup final this month by playing the "Take-the-L" dance of the game.
Like a social game, easy to play and difficult to master, it has been particularly successful with children of school age, raising concerns from teachers and parents who report that they play obsessively during classes.
Fortnite is not a blue bolt for Epic. The biggest success of the developer was Gears of War, a successful franchise for Microsoft's Xbox 360. Epic also owns Unreal Engine, one of two operating systems widely used by developers to build games. At first, Epic asked the customers to use the software. Sales took off when Sweeney made the product free and instead started collecting a royalty on game sales made using the software, which included hits such as Mass Effect and Batman: Arkham.
Fortnite also started as a paid product. Launched in July 2017 as a $ 40 version where players were building forts to defend against hordes of zombies, the game really took off after Epic made it free and added the multi-combat game style [19659014]. At the E3 last year, the big industry show, Epic showed some journalists the hidden game in a meeting room. At this year's conference, the Epic booth was entirely devoted to Fortnite, with a replica of the bus in which players go to the beginning of the game and opportunities for fans to play in dance and hang gliding videos. This week, Epic presented its first Celebrity Pro-Am Fortnite with guests such as comedian Joel McHale and professional Ninja (real name Tyler Blevins) competing in a football stadium. In May, Epic announced that it would provide $ 100 million to fund prize pools for Fortnite competitions.
At the Epic office, located in a suburb of Raleigh, at the corner of a shopping center, employees have their choice of free ice cream. Hot Pockets. There is a game room, a two-story slide, and giant sculptures of some game characters.
Raised in the suburbs of Potomac, Md., Sweeney quickly demonstrated talent for design and business. At age 11, he learns to program using the Apple computer's family and makes a hobby of dissecting electronics. At the age of 15, he quit his job at a hardware store after noticing that everyone was getting the same hourly pay regardless of the level of difficulty. Instead, he borrowed his father's tractor and started trimming the neighbors' lawns, cutting off professional landscapers, according to a 2011 interview with the Kotaku video game site. Sweeney began designing his own games at the age of 21, packing them on floppy disks and mailing them out.
"Tim Sweeney is a legendary character," said Joost van Dreunen, CEO of SuperData Research Holdings. intelligence on the game industry. "He is a hard worker, with a clear vision of what he wants to do."
Despite millions of captivating players, Sweeney is not really a player. He is a conservation enthusiast and one of the largest private landlords in North Carolina. After the financial crisis, he bought thousands of hectares, mainly in the mountains, with the aim of creating nature reserves.
Sweeney often roams the epic office, leaving large cups of soda in his wake. He advocates a concoction of 60 percent water and 40 percent diet coke in the company's fountains.
In a 10-year video posted online, Sweeney walks around his sprawling house. The perpetual single says that he had never eaten in the elegant dining room and preferred to take away to Burger King. He already owned several sports cars, including a Lamborghini, but he sold most of them. He drives a Corvette 2019.
"It turns out that the fast car is an excellent hobby when you're a workaholic," he says, "because even when there's no free time, can always go to work. "
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