fortnite success

Fortnite’s Success Has Financial Analysts Worrying for Other Video Game Companies

Epic’s Fortnite has been quite a success story. It surpassed 45 million players in January and has been enjoying steady growth since, smashing numerous records. Together with Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, the game has financial analysts and investors worrying for other video game companies.

KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst, Evan Wingren, has said that the game could create a “tactical risk” for other publishers, who could suffer from a drop in engagement numbers. According to CNBC, Wingren wrote in a recent note to clients that the growth of Fortnite could “limit potential upside to consensus numbers.”

“The game is gaining momentum in Western markets, which is likely to impact engagement for all AAA games to some degree,” explained Wingren. “We believe Fortnite is growing the overall gaming TAM (total addressable market), but some cannibalization is likely.”

Wingren also suggested that publishers could experience a drop of up to 10 percent in monetization revenue.

These thoughts have been echoed by Morgan Stanley’s Brian Nowak, who recently pointed out that Grand Theft Auto Online is facing stiff competition from Fortnite and PUBG. It is expected that Take-Two will see a drop in in-game monetization as a result.

Others suggest that Call of Duty and Overwatch publisher Activision should start worrying, if it hasn’t already.

CNBC reports that in recent weeks, Google search volume for Fortnite exceeded that of Minecraft and Bitcoin. The game has also received attention from celebrities across the globe, who have been bragging about their wins online.

[Source: CNBC, Seeking Alpha]

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