Battle Royale Games Expected to Earn $20 Billion in 2019

A Statistica report based on figures provided by SuperData Research claims that battle royale games like Fortnite are expected to rake in $20 billion in revenue next year. The Epic Games title, which recently passed the $1 billion revenue milestone, is leading the pack.

According to estimates, the Battle Royale genre will generate $12.6 billion by the end of 2018, a significant improvement over the $1.7 billion that it earned last year. With games like Call of Duty and Battlefield taking advantage of the trend, analysts expect revenues to reach $20.1 billion, with premium console titles taking the largest piece of the pie followed by mobile and free-to-play console games.

Unlike some analysts, SuperData doesn’t believe that Battle Royale games pose a threat to other games and genres. It seems that Battle Royale livestreams on sites like Twitch are bringing in new viewers, not stealing current viewership. “In May 2018, total viewers for several key games on Twitch (League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Hearthstone, and Overwatch) stood at 54 million,” reads the report. “This figure was roughly even with May 2017 even though Fortnite Battle Royale and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds grew to a combined 42 million viewers during this time period.”

However, games that have a younger audience are expected to take a hit. SuperData reports that since Fortnite gained popularity, 57 percent of young consumers have either cut down on watching Minecraft livestreams or have stopped watching them altogether.

[Source: SuperData, Statistica]