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State of Mobile Battle Royale: Fortnite Leaves a $1.2 Billion Hole in the Market

By Craig Chapple·Sep 26, 2020·3 min read

Summary

Fortnite was removed from the App Store and Google Play on August 13, 2020, after implementing its own payment system. It had generated over $1.2 billion in revenue, mostly from iOS, and 144 million downloads. Its departure leaves a major gap in the mobile battle royale market, which is dominated by PUBG Mobile ($3.5B).

In 2020, Fortnite earned $293M, with $283M from the App Store. In the U.S., it ranked first with $181M. Competitors like Call of Duty: Mobile saw a 69% revenue increase after its removal, but it's unclear if any title can fully replace Fortnite's cultural impact.

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