Fortnite's revenue of $9.2 billion and Unreal Engine's revenue of $221 million — how much did Epic Games earn in 2018-2019
We continue to share details of the trial between Epic Games and Apple. During the hearing, Epic Games also disclosed financial figures for 2018-2019. Among them: the revenue of individual projects, the profit of the entire company and the number of staff in different directions.
Key figures:
- Epic Games earned $9.29 billion on its games, and Fortnite was responsible for almost the entire amount. The revenue of the battle royale in two years approached $9.2 billion;
- Epic Games Store collected $2 million for December 2018 and $233 million for the whole of 2019. Thus, its total revenue was $235 million.;
- Unreal Engine revenues for two years — $221 million. Merchandising at the same time brought the company $92 million.;
- In just two years, the company’s EBITDA amounted to $3.6 billion: $2.89 billion in 2018 and $733 million in 2019;
- At the end of 2019, Epic Games employed 1,932 people, which is almost twice as many as it was at the end of 2018 (1,063 people). The vast majority of them were engaged in games — 890 employees. Unreal Engine was the second most popular direction — 564 specialists worked in it. The third place went to corporate management — 218 people. In fourth place is online support with 173 employees. Closes the top five EGS — 87 people.
Epic Games performance in 2018-2019 and adjusted forecast for 2020
It is worth noting that the bulk of the revenue for these two years Epic Games earned in 2018.
In 2019, most of the company’s indicators not only fell, but turned out to be even below the minimum forecast (Epic Games had a maximum and minimum program).
For example, EBITDA in 2019 was twice lower than expected and 295% less compared to the results of 2018.
Epic Games explained the sharp drop in revenue by the lack of revenue from esports (usually about $ 150 million), M&A deals, increased operating costs, including due to hiring new employees, increased hosting costs due to increased MAU, bots and creative mode in games, as well as cancellation in projects companies of the December battle pass/winter pass.
EBITDA in 2019: planned and real
Separately, Epic Games told why Fortnite’s revenue did not grow enough.
In 2019, the game earned $1796 million less than in 2018, and $ 429 million less than planned.
It’s all about reducing the Fortnite player base. During the year, Battle Royale’s MAU decreased from 66.6 million to 65.1 million people. Title conversion dropped by five percentage points. MARPPU also decreased by about 11% — from $31.7 to $28.36.
Fortnite revenue in 2019: planned and real
Against the background of such results, the company revised its plans for 2020 and presented a new version with a reduced forecast in the report.
Whether he was justified is still unknown.
Forecast for 2020:
- total revenue from games will continue to fall and reach $3.2 billion (a drop of $789 million in annual terms). Note that even in the case of a successful 2020, Epic Games planned to earn only $ 500 thousand more on games than in 2019;
- Fortnite’s revenue should collapse by $1 billion compared to 2019 and reach $2.7 billion;
- at the same time, it was assumed that Unreal Engine and Epic Games Store would grow over the year. The revenue of the engine will rise by $ 3 million to $ 100 million, and the revenue of the store — by $168 million to $ 401 million;
- but EBITDA will fall to $531 million — by $202 million. The reasons for the fall will remain the same, but the cancellation of offline events in 2020 will also be added to them;
- Epic Games was also going to hire another 300 people in 2020.
Epic Games indicators in 2018-2019 and all forecast options for 2020
