Worldwide Digital Market Down in Jan 2019, Fortnite Revenue Dips

Digital Games Market Down 6% Year-Over-Year in January 2019, Fortnite Experiences Revenue Dip

February 23, 2019

SuperData has published its monthly Worldwide Digital Games Market report, revealing that consumer spending in January 2019 amounted to $8.4 billion across all platforms – a decrease of 6 percent year-over-year.

The decline has been attributed to a “tepid” performance from heavyweights like Call of Duty, FIFA, Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto Online, and Overwatch. PC was hit the hardest with a 29 percent decrease in spending whereas console revenue decreased by three percent.

After a stellar 2018, Epic Games’ Fortnite experienced a month-over-month dip of 48 percent in revenue across all platforms. “This comes after a peak month in December and points to an increasingly lumpy revenue profile heading into 2019,” added SuperData.

The report also revealed that Red Dead Online has failed to gain momentum. Red Dead Redemption 2‘s online component saw a 14 percent month-over-month decrease in revenue, which SuperData attributed to declining monthly active users (MAUs).

“Combined sales from both Red Dead Online and GTA Online, which makes about 5x more than Red Dead Online from in-game spending, were flat year-over-year versus GTA Online alone last January,” reads the report.

Elsewhere, Nintendo’s hit title, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, saw a “sharp” decline in unit sales. According to SuperData’s estimates, unit sales were down by 83 percent from December 2018 but in-game spending increased month-over-month as more players purchased the Fighter Pass.

On the PC side, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive‘s high engagement levels didn’t have any positive impact on revenue, which “fell considerably” compared to January 2018. CS:GO‘s MAUs grew eight percent year-over-year, thanks in part to the game going free-to-play back in November last year.

It remains to be seen if Apex Legends and Anthem will push digital market revenues up in February.

[Source: SuperData]