Fortnite iOS Revenue Surpasses Clash of Clans, Pokemon Go, and Candy Crush Saga: Report

When Fortnite first hit iOS, there was a stringent invite requirement that made it tough to get into the game and play it, even though you could download Fortnite from the App Store. And it seems that removing the Fortnite iOS invite system has resulted in massive gains for developer Epic Games. According to a report from analytics firm Sensor Tower, Fortnite has earned more from in-app purchases than Clash of Clans, Candy Crush Saga, and Pokemon Go in the last seven days. Fortnite continues to find a place in the top 10 grossing list on iPhone in 23 countries.

"Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data shows that lifting the invite requirement resulted in a 197 percent, or approximately three times increase in player expenditure on Monday, April 2, versus the $620,000 average across all previous days, totaling more than $1.8 million (nearly Rs. 11.70 crore) for the day," a post from the company reads.

"Meanwhile, total worldwide mobile revenue for Fortnite has surpassed $15 million gross (around Rs. 97 crore), with about $10.5 million (roughly Rs. 68 crore) paid to Epic Games, in just 20 days since the game began monetizing on March 15. Global installs of the game have topped 11 million since launch."

This is just the beginning. Sensor Tower speculates that Fortnite could earn more that $3 million a day (approximately Rs. 19.50 crore) when it hits Android, "once the Android user base grows to a comparable size in relation to iOS". Though given the number of battle royale options present on that platform along with the ad-driven model being par for the course, it would probably take a lot longer for Epic to hit that milestone on Android if at all.

Previously, Sensor Tower reported that Fortnite iOS made over $1.5 million (around Rs. 9.7 crore) worldwide in its first four days. In the first 72 hours, the game earned $1 million (close to Rs. 6.5 crore). Compared to competing titles in the battle royale space, Fortnite has earned more than NetEase's Knives Out and Rules of Survival by a factor of more than 25 in its first four days, compared to the same period after both those titles began monetising.

In addition to this, it appears to be punching above its weight when compared to other giant mobile game hits of recent years. "Fortnite’s revenue is also impressive when put into perspective against some of the largest mobile game launches from the past two years. Purely based on cosmetic IAP, it has managed to gross about one third as much as both Pokémon GO ($4.9 million) and Clash Royale ($4.6 million) made in their first four days of availability on iOS," wrote SensorTower's Head of Mobile Insights Randy Nelson.

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