Fortnite turns one today and things are looking mighty different for Epic Games since the game released in 2017. The studio originally released the game as a PvE title where it found mild success but wasn’t exactly anything to write home about. Now, Fortnite has exploded into a global phenomenon with its free battle royale mode.
The 100-player high stakes, one life deathmatch mode has made Fortnite the most popular game out there. Thanks to its free-to-play model, consistent content updates, and more, Epic has struck gold with Fortnite, so much so that they’re valued between $5 – $8 billion by Bloomberg analysts.
Of course, Fortnite isn’t the only product Epic Games produces, they’re the developers of the popular Unreal game engine which is used by all sorts of devs ranging from indies to top-tier AAA developers. Fortnite does play an incredibly significant factor though as it’s expected to rake in $2 billion this year alone.
While $8 billion isn’t anything to scoff at regardless of who it is, it’s especially impressive when you consider that Tencent bought 40% of Epic Games for $825 million in 2012. Doing some simple math, that would mean that the whole company was valued at about $1.15 billion.
Within just 6 years, Epic Games shot up by $6.845 billion. Bloomberg also suggested that if publishers like EA, Activision, or Epic Games were to go up for sale, they could be valued at as much as $14 billion.
Bloomberg notes that Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney has also become a billionaire following the massive growth of the beloved shooter. It’s absolutely remarkable to see how Fortnite has come, regardless of your feelings on it. The game was revealed in 2011 as the survival PvE game and took many years to resurface in the public eye again.
Still maintaining its bright, whacky tone, it was determined to deliver the survival game it promised in 2011. Of course, they ended up releasing that but quickly saw an opportunity to capitalize on the battle royale movement and the rest is history. Epic Games has remained adamant about supporting the PvE “Save the World” mode but it’s clear where their focus is right now.
Fortnite is now available on just about every relevant platform including consoles, mobile, and PC.
