Introduction

Fortnite is a video game that is free to play. It was developed by the famous epic games and is currently the most popular game online. It is based on a world that has just faced an apocalypse and is now invaded by zombies. The design is rather fiction and fantasy than violence. Players compete against others and to win the game, their only task is to stay alive. Building and fighting are parts of this staying alive objective. To play it, you just need to download it on your personal computer, playstation, Xbox, or your mobile phone. After that, you have to choose the mode you want to play in as it displays three different modes to choose from. Post its release in 2017, it was reported that fortnite enjoyed three hundred and fifty million registered users, and the count has been increasing ever since. The whole game is available online and can be played completely free of cost. This question might be displayed in every readers mind that if it is entirely free to play, how does fortnite make money? To understand that, we need to dig deeper into its business model and understand its revenues.

The Business Model of Fortnite

The two different games released under this banner are battle royale and save the world. Save the world is the paid version and a free one would be released soon. Fortnite: battle royal is entirely free and available to all users. The whole idea is based on a total of hundred players with specific characters landing on an island of the world that was just hit by an apocalypse. They make their way by fighting and building to win the game. In spite of the fact that it is free to play, it makes a huge money because of its popularity and being the most talked about game among all the citizens including teenagers, adults, social media influencers, and celebrities alike. Its popularity also comes from the idea of fortnite not being a violent game. It is more inclined towards providing its users entertainment by choosing the fantasy genre and reducing the violence as much as it can be. It stands out in this respect as all the other games involving fighting incorporate a lot of shooting and correspondingly violence.

It also allows two more features. First, the other version of fortnite i.e. save the world allows users to team too and then play as a group. Second, it’s not only popular for playing, a good amount of user like watching fortnite too. During 2019, the count of people watching fortnite across different streaming and social media platforms increased up to seven million.

What is the Secret Behind Fortnite’s Success and How does it Make Money?

Fortnite managed to gain a huge popularity in a very short period of time. By 2020, it was reported as the fourth most played game in the world. Now the question arises that how is it even making money and becoming so successful to generate revenues in billions? Selling a hard copy or a digital copy of the game for console is a way of making money but it plays a secondary role here. The primary and major role in building such huge revenue is played by microtransactions.

• To make their characters more equipped and attractive, players keep on buying additional skins and new costumes or attire. This purchase makes money for the game.

• To get a subscription spanning over the period of a quarter, the users have to purchase a feature called the battle pass. This is where maximum revenue is generated. Battle passes are a great attraction for the users and players as they give an additional access to all the updates the gaming system incorporates. The user gets notified of all the changes in the map and additional information to help him win. This fee for a battle pass costs about 9.5 dollars.

• To make purchases in the game, user spend money on the currency of game too.

Conclusion

Despite being the most popular game among the masses, Fortnite also has been threatened by a danger of losing its popularity by a decline in users. The highest played month it has enjoyed up till now is June 2019.