Free To Play, Expensive To Love: 'Fortnite' Changes Video Game Business (reuters.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: To see the storm that online video game "Fortnite" has unleashed on the world, just visit Jett Sacher in Brooklyn. The 13-year-old spends an hour or two every day on the game with his friends and is not afraid to spend his pocket money on it - bit by bit. "So I bought one dance, two skins and the battle pass," Sacher told Reuters TV about recent gaming sessions. "So that's, I spent $20 on both skins so $40 ... and the dance was another $10 so $50, 60 bucks, something like that."

Sacher's pay-as-you-go expenditure on dressing up his online avatar in the 'free-to-play' game helped "Fortnite" take in an estimated $223 million from in-game purchases in March, according to Joost Van Dreunen at research firm SuperData. "Fortnite," a sort of hybrid of "The Hunger Games" and "Minecraft," drops 100 people onto an island to fight each other for survival. It is a game-changer in the industry, analysts have said, because of the huge revenue it is making from "tween" and teenage boys purchasing outfits and other add-ons. Its publisher, Epic Games, is now worth $4.5 billion, according to an estimate. Further reading: Gamers are the new stars. Esports arenas are the new movie theaters (The New York Times).

Comments

Jeez, $20 bucks for a skin?

[rsilvergun]

I know modern graphics and shaders are a bitch to program, but that does not compute. Especially for a relatively low poly game like Fortnight. Nice work if you can get it. But it sucks for us old timers who want single player games or at least to just buy a game and call it a day.

Re:Jeez, $20 bucks for a skin?

[JaredOfEuropa]

It's a fun business model even if it feels a bit sleazy. The suckers who plop down $20 for a skin are paying for those who just want to play the game. As long as it's just the eye candy that has to be paid for, and not useful gear.

Are you from 2005?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because free-to-play and making money on cosmetics has been around for several years. You speak of it as if it's a new phenomena.

Re:Are you from 2005?

[higuita]

steam made tons of money selling hats in team fortress 2, so yes, this is not new indeed.

As long as this things are cosmetic, i'm fine with it... if they give a advantage, it is Pay2Win ... sadly many games are going to the latest and those that do not pay always lose

Re:The end of an era

[Anonymous Coward]

You should feel sad, as it entering the common culture to such a degree has enabled video game publishers to drive down innovation and artistry in favour of turning the entire medium into a treadmill of cash-extraction to an almost criminal level.