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Fortnite Jump Pads Epic Games' Tim Sweeney To Billionaire

Someone grab the champagne!!!

Charles Singletary Jr

July 25, 2018 11:15 AM

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Fortnite alone has amassed over $1 billion from in-game purchases and has served as a major catalyst for today's big Epic Games news. The software development and video game corporation is now valued at $5 to $8 billion and founder Tim Sweeney is now a billionaire.

Bloomberg Billionaires Index is responsible for the estimate and the report focuses on Fortnite's availability as a free-to-play game as a major reason for the game's success.

“On the revenue side, they’ve done something that’s really unique, which is come up with a perception of exclusivity,” said data analyst Michael Pachter. “If you see another player in a leopard skin and go to the store and see it’s no longer available, you think, Shoot, I’ve got to move on it next time.”

This is something prevalent throughout free-to-play games and, occasionally, gets abused in premium-priced experiences as well. The reaction to loot crate and other microtransaction criticism seems to have struck a chord with developers and publishers all around, but time will only tell if the lesson has truly been learned. Fortnite and a handful of others, in the meantime, can reap the rewards of a more acceptable monetary model.

Epic Games made another recent splash beyond the success of Fortnite by revealing a monetary restructure for the benefit of creators that use Unreal Engine. With this new news, that shift is very solid one in hindsight. Stay tuned to Shacknews for future updates.

Charles Singletary Jr

News Editor

Charles Singletary Jr keeps the updates flowing as the News Editor, breaking stories while investigating the biggest topics in gaming and technology. He's pretty active on Twitter, so feel free to reach out to him @The_CSJR. Got a hot tip? Email him at Charles.Singletary@Shacknews.com.