‘Fortnite’ Ban From Apple Store Could Lead Epic Games To Lose $26 Million A Month, Analyst Says
The feud between Apple and Epic Games could be quite costly for the makers of the uber-popular Fortnite. Justinas Baltrusaitis of Buy Shares wrote on Tuesday that Fortnite being banned from the company’s mobile application store could eventually cost Epic as much as $26.7 million per month.
The writer said the site’s projections are based on the recent revenue plunge the developers have seen due to the banning of Fortnite on mobile devices. Revenues since the battle began between the company behind the most popular Battle Royale in the world and Apple and Google fell by more than 63 percent in July and August.
While the game first rose to prominence on the Xbox One and PS4, it branched out quickly on the PC, then to the mobile platform and the Nintendo Switch. These days, there doesn’t appear to be a device users can’t play Fortnite on.
Despite that reality, it turns out iOS and Google Play marketplaces have turned into the biggest generators of money for the title. Buy Shares analysts said from January through August of 2019, Fortnite earned its creators more than $191 million by partnering with the Cupertino, California-based firm.
The loss of millions of dollars is said to be the driver behind the Fortnite creators moving to sue, in order to be allowed back on smartphones and tablets all over the world. Because the game is “free-to-play,” its developers make most of their money through in-app purchases.
Baltrusaitis reported that while there are certainly gamers who are making those purchases on the console and PC version of the game, a vast majority of people who buy the cosmetics, emotes and dances on offer are doing so through iPhones and Android devices.
The reporter said it was the in-game offerings that led to the dispute between the massive companies in the first place. The Fortnite creators found a way to offer items without having to funnel as much of their proceeds to Apple for the use of its store.
In retaliation for getting around a process the tech giant said was very clearly laid out, Epic Games was banned from the platform.
Baltrusaitis pointed out that a loss of direct revenues isn’t the only way that the banning will affect the Fortnite developers’ bottom line. Investors have been injecting capital into the Battle Royale’s creator thanks to fiscal projections that continued to show massive growth. Being cut off from their largest user base has cut into those projections in a way that analysts said could have other organizations back off in the coming days, weeks, and months if a resolution to the conflict can’t be reached.
