- Apple has made roughly $ 360 million in revenue over the past three years from “Fortnite”, the online game that Apple is now contesting over its App Store fees.
- Epic Games, the maker of “Fortnite,” told Apple on Thursday about its 30% commission on all in-app purchases through the App Store. Earlier this week, Apple removed “Fortnite” from the app store after Epic Games tried to skirt Apple’s commission.
- Fortnite has been installed more than 133 million times and to date has raised $ 1.2 billion in clips in the App Store, according to analytics firm Sensor Tower. Roughly 30% of that revenue went to Apple.
- Meanwhile, Fortnite has been downloaded 11 million times and $ 10 million in spending has been generated in the Google Play Store since it first debuted there in April 2020. Epic Games is involved in a similar dispute with Google, which also charges 30% commissions.
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Before Epic Games filed Apple over its fees for the App Store, it was a cash cow for the tech giant, generating $ 360 million in revenue for Apple through its “Fortnite” app alone.
A brewing conflict between Epic Games and Apple exploded in the public eye on Thursday when Apple removed Epic Games’ Fortnite from the App Store in an attempt to snatch Apple’s 30% commission on all in-app purchases smoking. Epic Games responded by prosecuting Apple, accusing it of anti-competitive behavior.
“Apple’s removal of Fortnite is yet another example of Apple’s enormous power to impose unfair restrictions and unfairly maintain its 100% monopoly on iOS in – app payment processing market,” Epic said in its lawsuit. .
Epic Games also sued Google several hours later on Thursday for its similar enforcement of commissions on the Google Play Store.
Data provided by app analytics firm Sensor Tower to Business Insider sheds light on just how much money Apple and Google made from “Fortnite,” which has hundreds of millions of players around the world. “Fortnite” is free to download – which has contributed to its popularity – but encourages players to spend money on in-game purchases, which are subject to orders from Apple or Google.
Since its release in 2017, “Fortnite” has been installed 133.2 million times and seen $ 1.2 billion in spending worldwide on the App Store alone, according to Sensor Tower. In the last 30 days, it was installed 2.4 million times and generated $ 43.4 million in revenue in the App Store. Apple has taken a 30% commission on “Fortnite’s” App Store revenue, representing $ 360 million in total.
Meanwhile, “Fortnite” has been downloaded 11 million times and $ 10 million in spending has been generated in the Google Play Store since it first debuted in April 2020, according to Sensor Tower. Of that, 2 million came installations and $ 3.3 million in expenses in the last 30 days. Google also charges a 30% commission on app revenue, which means Google made roughly $ 3 million from Fortnite.
Representatives for Google, Apple, and Epic Games did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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