Thanks to these court documents being released ahead of the trial, we now have a better idea of where Fortnite makes most of its money — and despite the huge amount of dollars flying around mobile games right now, PlayStation and Xbox seem to account for the bulk of Fortnite’s earnings. They could make Epic’s choice to fight Apple and Google make a bit more sense — even if they alienate the app store companies, Epic can bank on Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo consoles continuing to rake in cash.
I guess you take a victory here, and try to apply it elsewhere.
But, I always have to ask, how big a deal is the cross platform of it all? I believe one of the perks is that anything you buy on Playstation is available else where. I wonder if losing access to iOS might have caused some revenue to drop from other stores.
That’s actually really interesting to see. Install numbers on mobile do not equate the spending by engaged console players in this game. It’s an interesting contrast to Call of Duty mobile which pulls in huge figures right now.
Still a huge gamble, abandoning 7% of your revenue. No board would ever permit a company to do it, only someone like Sweeney with total control would ever do such a thing.
I’m curious, how many people play Fortnite on multiple platforms? It could be their primary platform is Playstation, but also play it on iOS (or some other combination) I wonder if their buying habits are impacted by this.
There is always something to be said about preferring to make purchases on a device with a larger screen. That’s why I prefer to shop on Amazon on the Computer, as opposed to the app.
But I’m sure I’m in a minority compared to the younger, hipper Fortnite audience.
I think the PC is the aspirational choice for tons of kids who watch their favorite streamers play there but can only afford (or have Mom and Dad afford) a PlayStation.
I know this was how things unfolded for my kids and their friend group that has continued playing games post-high school. They’re all PC gamers now but many took awhile to catch up. My boys all wanted their own PC/laptop for college so they were moving past consoles quicker than most.
It’s easy to believe that most players are still on PlayStation though. Hell, that’s where I do all my Warzone spending now, Apex before that, and Fortnite before that. Even while owning capable PCs!
Nice to see the Slime Rancher guys did well. Wonderful game.
I forgot to grab the million $ MYZ on that list, oh well.
Canary seems to be Conarium.
Not surprised at all Batman was the most successful. I thought Celeste and Inside would’ve done better though. Weren’t those press / indie darlings or whatever at the time?
The email, dated June 25, 2015—so well before Epic was flush with Fortnite billions—was sent directly to Cook by Sweeny, and reads:
Hi Tim,
Y’all should think about separating iOS App Store curation from compliance review and app distribution. The App Store has done much good for the industry, but it doesn’t seem tenable for Apple to be the sole arbiter of expression and commerce over an app platform approaching a billion users.
Compliance review could be limited to API compatibility, safety, data privacy and fair disclosure practices. Compliant apps could be signed to allow open distribution via web or by confirmed invocation from another app, with no restrictions on engaging in commerce directly with users.
Rather than replying directly to a dude who began an unsolicited request to alter Apple’s billion-dollar business plan with the word “y’all”, Cook forwarded the email to colleagues Phil Schiller and Eddy Cue, saying: Is this the guy that was at one of our rehearsals?
Not really of course. I’d be pretty amazed if this were successful. It faces almost all the challenges that Epic does in the US, on top of England & Wales not having a strong class action legal culture (quite the opposite, until very recently). This particular sort of claim has only existed since 2018, and as far as I know there hasn’t yet been a successful one. It’s pretty hard to even get over the first hurdle, having the class certified.
That said, the Competition and Markets Authority is already investigating Apple over the issue, so there may be some redress regardless. I suspect the class action suit will get stayed or equivalent pending the outcome of the investigation.
Because I’m a cynic, I always wonder with these sorts of things if the suit would have gotten off the ground if the target weren’t an American multinational.
