Report: PUBG Hit $1.03 Billion While Fortnite Made $2.4 Billion In 2018

By Annie Baker ● Jan 22, 2019

Two of the biggest battle royale games right now are Fortnite Battle Royale and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUGB). In 2018, Fortnite reportedly hit $2.4 billion in digital revenue while PUGB made $1.028 billion according to a SuperData report via GamesIndustry.biz. This means that Fortnite was the top gross free-to-play game in the world last year. However, revenue from PUBG Mobile was not considered in the report. 

Fortnite generates most of its revenue by selling character skins and emotes like dance moves. And 34% of all US players bought a seasonal “battle pass.”


Photo: Fortnite / Epic Games

SuperData also pointed out that Fortnite was one of the biggest reasons why digital game revenue as a whole was up by 11% to $108 billion last year. And free-to-play was the most popular business model for games with 80% of all digital game revenue last year at around $88 billion. And of this total revenue, 62% was generated in Asia.

Here is a break down of the top ten free-to-play games based revenue for 2018 from the report:

Fortnite, Epic Games – $2.4 billion

Dungeon Fighter Online, Nexon – $1.5 billion

League of Legends, Riot Games, Tencent – $1.4 billion

Pokemon GO, Niantic – $1.3 billion

Crossfire, Neowiz Games – $1.3 billion

Honour of Kings, Tencent – $1.3 billion

Fate/Grand Order, Aniplex – $1.2 billion

Candy Crush Saga, King, Activision Blizzard – $1.1 billion

Monster Strike, Mixi – $1.0 billion

Clash Royale, Supercell, Tencent – $0.9 billion

And here is a breakdown of the top ten premium games based on revenue for 2018 from the report:

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Bluehole – $1.028 billion

FIFA 18, Electronic Arts – $790 million

Grand Theft Auto V, Take-Two Interactive – $628 million

Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII, Activision Blizzard – $612 million

Red Dead Redemption 2, Take-Two Interactive – $516 million

Call of Duty: WWII, Activision Blizzard – $506 million

FIFA 19, Electronic Arts – $482 million

Monster Hunter: World, Capcom – $467 million

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft – $440 million

Overwatch, Activision Blizzard – $429 million