There seems to be no stopping Fortnite’s momentum, at least for right now. The battle royale game that’s become one of the breakout hits of the year had its best month by far in December 2018, leaving everyone else in the dust.
Sensor Tower is reporting that Fortnite grossed $69 million in December, which is a gigantic jump from the already high $10 million from what the game brought in when it first came out in March.
Even more impressive, December’s gross was a month-over-month increase of 83 percent compared to November, and broke its record of $59.3 million back in July. Overall, Fortnite grossed $455 million on Apple App Store alone, not even counting Android or console sales.
New installations of the game were also up dramatically from November, climbing 59 percent to more than 4.2 million. Overall, Fortnite has been downloaded a staggering 82.6 million times on iOS. This puts it far above PUBG Mobile, it’s closest rival, which grossed “only” about $100 million worldwide.
Fortnite’s massive success has put developer Epic Games in a very strong position heading into the new year. They could now be worth well over $14 billion thanks to the game’s massive popularity, and have used their success to start a new digital storefront, the Epic Games Store. The new store has enticed developers by providing a 88/12 revenue split that is a far cry from what Steam and other digital stores are offering.
It likely goes without saying that Fortnite has also been a mainstream cultural hit, with many well-known celebrities playing the game, most famously Drake back in March. But it’s also led to some celebrities suing Epic over usage of particular dances, which have become one of the game’s staples. Alfonso Ribeiro, who played Carlton on the The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, has filed a lawsuit saying that the dance move his character used on the show is emulated in the game without his permission. Similar lawsuits have been filed since then, including from internet senstation Backpack Kid and YouTube rapper 2 Milly.
