Epic Games Building Beyond ‘Fortnite’

While still living off of one of the most successful video games in history, Epic Games is starting to build out other parts of its business.

A few years ago, it would be fair to call Epic Games “Fortnite Inc.” The breakout hit accounted for 97% of the company’s $5.6 billion in revenue in 2018, according to documents that came out through its lawsuit against Apple.

“Fortnite” revenue dropped each of the next two years, as did Epic’s, but other aspects of the business have begun to emerge, namely the Epic Games Store.

• Launched in December 2018, when it made $2 million in revenue, the store grew from $233 million in 2019 to $401 million last year. 
• Epic has sought to undercut the market to lure game publishers. The company takes 12% of purchases made on its platform, whereas Apple and Google take 30% from most publisher revenue. 
• Epic’s non-“Fortnite” games brought in $8 million in 2018, but grew to $100 million in 2019 and $250 million in 2020.

The Epic Games Store competes against tech behemoths like Apple and Google, and the company has taken that battle to the courts. If successful, its antitrust lawsuit against Apple could force a reconfiguration of the App Store.

Both Epic and Apple have completed final arguments in that case and a verdict is expected in August.

Epic was valued at $28.7 billion in April after a $1 billion funding round.