What you need to know
- Fortnite remains banned from the App Store and may be for some time.
- Turns out, that could cost Epic Games quite a lot of money.
- One firm estimates Epic is losing an average of $26.7 million a month in revenue.
New estimates from Buy Shares have revealed that Epic Games' spat with Apple could cost it in the region of $26 million a month in lost revenue whilst Fortnite is banned from iOS.
The report is based on data from Sensor Tower and Epic's own revenue:
Between January and August this year, Epic Games' highest revenue was from the App Store at an estimated $191.42 million compared to $101.48 million from Google Play. Based on Sensor Tower data we have determined that the App Store accounts for 65.46% of all in-app purchases globally in H1, 2020. Our estimation, therefore, filtered the cumulative revenue for Fortnite on Google Play and Apple App Store by using our finding of 65.46% when comparing Google Play and App Store revenue.
Projections from Buy Shares estimate that Epic Games "will potentially lose an average of $26.7 million in monthly revenue (based on revenue from January to August of this year).
Buy Shares also states that "it is clear" from the data that the App Store represents Epic Games' biggest source of revenue, and that the removal of Fortnite and the termination of its App Store developer account "will definitely have a catastrophic impact on the company's future."
Epic Games recently told the court in its case against Apple that iOS usage of Fortnite was down 60% since the app was banned from the App Store. It will ask a judge to overturn this ban and reinstate Fortnite to the App Store at a preliminary injunction hearing on September 28.
