Fortnite has cleared 100 million downloads on Apple’s iOS platform in 138 days, or less than five months, according to Apptopia, a third-party provider of app store data. And the hot free-to-play battle royale game has also cleared $160 million in in-app purchases on iOS.
That’s an impressive number, considering players can also play the game on the PC, the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or Nintendo’s Switch. Overall, Fortnite has cleared $1 billion in revenue since its battle royale version debuted in September 2017.
By comparison, Super Mario Run cleared 100 million in downloads in 68 days, or less than half the time. But that game had serious advertising behind it. Pokémon Go also cleared 100 million downloads on iOS in 71 days.
Fortnite users are playing about 21.6 minutes per session, longer than Pokémon Go at 14.8 minutes. And in May and June combined, players spent 2.7 billion hours playing Fortnite. Rival PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds isn’t faring as well on iOS. In its first year, Pokémon Go hit $1.2 billion in revenues on both iOS and Android. When it hit 100 million downloads, Pokémon Go revenues were at $111 million.
“We don’t expect PUBG Mobile, which is largely viewed at Fortnite’s No. 1 competitor, to hit this mark for another 206 days on iOS,” Apptopia said.
Nintendo spent ample money on advertising and marketing efforts, including teaming up with Apple for prime App Store real estate in the week leading up to launch. Combine that with a heavy dose of nostalgia and the holiday bump mobile games typically receive in December, and that explains the monstrous launch.
“Keep in mind that Super Mario Run had a massive drop-off in velocity of downloads about a month after launch, whereas Fortnite and Pokémon Go have been able to sustain a consistent level of high downloads,” Apptopia said.
And Fortnite has cleared $160 million in in-app purchase revenue since launch in mid-March. The game is currently on pace to hit half a billion dollars in in-app purchase revenue around April 2019.
