If ever there was evidence that Fortnite‘s hold on the gaming throne is beginning to wane, figures published by SuperData have confirmed that the Epic Games phenom endured a somewhat sluggish start to 2019 – so much so, in fact, that the game’s revenue dropped by almost 50 percent during the month of January.
Between the period of December 2018 and January 2019, Fortnite revenue slumped by a whopping 48 percent across all platforms. It’s not enough to sound the alarm bells, nor does it indicate a declining userbase; rather, it’s just that Fortnite was firing on all cylinders throughout the Christmas holidays, during which time the season 7 content drop was in full flow.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that an online shooter in the vein of Fortnite is cyclical, and relies upon regular updates (see: the impending season 8 and all its many bells and whistles) to keep things fresh. Still, these numbers from SuperData are too big to ignore:
Fortnite revenue on all platforms combined declined 48% month-over-month in January, although sales are still up significantly year-over-year. This comes after a peak month in December and points to an increasingly lumpy revenue profile heading into 2019.
Does this mean that the age of Fortnite is coming to an end? Not exactly. As SuperData so rightly points out, this revenue slump looks worse than it actually is, given Epic’s online multiplayer extravaganza swept the board during the festive season.
Hell, the studio seems to have pocketed close to $3 billion profit since Fortnite booted online in 2018, so it’d be foolish to claim that the über-popular shooter is beginning to run out of steam – particularly now that the jam-packed season 8 is looming over the horizon.