2019's Top 'Free' Games Each Made $1.5 Billion-PlusTopping the free-to-play list, Fortnite made $1.8 billion

ByEric Griffith

This story originally appeared onPC Mag

Chesnot | Getty Images

Which do you think is a bigger deal,Avengers: EndgameorFortnite? Okay, sure, for 2019, the superheroes made a killing globally, pulling in$2.8 billion in box office grosses. But Fortnite—a game that is "free-to-play" for anyone, on any platform, managed to make $1.8 billion. And it is far from alone. The top 5 free-to-play games each made over $1.5 billion in 2019, according toSuperData.

TheStatistachart above shows the other big names in the top five: Dungeon Fighter Online, Honour of Kings (a.k.a. Arena of Valor), League of Legends, and old stalwart Candy Crush Saga. The rest of the top ten includePokemon Go, Crossfire, Fate/Grand Order, Game for Peace, and Last Shelter: Survival. All had over $1.1 billion in revenue last year.

Compare that number two "free" game (Dungeon Figher Online at $1.6 billion in revenue) to the second biggest movie of the year,The Lion King, which didn't even crack a billion, at $968 million. It's obvious: The gaming industry is (candy) crushing it.

通过平台将其分解,你会更多astonished. The free-to-play games are racking in cash like a thresher pulls in hay, to the tune of $87.1 billion total. Mobile "free" games alone made $64.4 billion; on the low end, console games had a mere $1.5 billion in revenue from free games.

If you're not up on what the "freemium" model is all about, it means anyone can download the games for nothing and play them. But to get additional content—new levels, virtual equipment, looks for characters, and so on—people tend to pay. And handsomely. The revenue increase from 2018 to 2019 for free-to-play games is 6 percent.

Wavy Line
Eric Griffith

Writer

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