Fortnite creator Epic Games made a record $3 bn profit in 2018: Report

It seems that the makers of the most popular game in the world have had an epic year. Epic Games, the creators of Fortnite, have apparently posted a profit of $3 billion, much of which was earned via Fortnite microtransactions.For the handful of you who’ve not heard of Fortnite (oh, the horror) it’s a free-to-play game that’s available on just about every gaming platform including PC, console and mobile. The game’s creators earn money through the sale of in-game knick-knacks such as skins, dance moves and various cosmetic add-ons.[caption id="attachment_5804451" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

Fortnite has over 125 mn monthly active users.[/caption]The details were apparently revealed to TechCrunch by an unnamed source. Epic Games has not yet responded to the report. As noted by TechCrunch, Epic Games is a private company and does not disclose earnings.Before Fortnite, Epic Games was known for only one thing: Unreal Engine. This is a powerful and popular cross-platform game engine used in the Unreal franchise (duh), Gears of War, BioShock and even the Tom Clancy and Batman franchises.Just to give a sense of scale to Fortnite’s popularity, the game has, by some estimates, over 125 mn active users. There are almost as many gamers playing Fortnite as there are users of Snapchat. Other reports suggest that the company is making over $1 mn a day from iOS alone.Epic Games is using the money to now position itself as an alternative gaming marketplace with hopes of taking on the likes of Steam. Steam is by far the largest gaming marketplace and community for PC games and isn’t going away any time soon. Epic, with its newfound bounty, is trying to entice developers to its platform by giving them a larger share of revenue and, for the moment, a more exclusive gaming marketplace.