© Epic Games "Fortnite" continues to dominate the attention of tens of millions of players around the world.
More specifically: "Fortnite" made $1.8 billion in 2019, according to Nielsen's SuperData tracking arm.
That's the second overall revenue number for "Fortnite" that we've seen for a full calendar year of availability - the game made just shy of $2.5 billion in 2018, according to SuperData. That's a drop of about 28% in 2019 versus the year prior. But make no mistake: Even with that drop-off, "Fortnite" is still the biggest game out there, the SuperData report suggests.
The game's maker, Epic Games, hasn't released revenue numbers for "Fortnite," and a representative declined to comment on the data.
Despite the fact that it's a free game, "Fortnite" brings in billions of dollars through sales of virtual items, sales of virtual money, and the ever-important seasonal Battle Pass.
On Saturday, brand new footage from the highly anticipated movie "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" premiered inside of "Fortnite," one of the world's most popular video games. This comes less than a week before the movie's release in the US, on December 20.
Players who logged in at about 2 p.m. EST on Saturday all gathered at a single point on the game's map - an area called "Risky Reels" - to hear a speech from director J.J. Abrams, as well as watch a sneak preview of the upcoming movie. While the event was going on, every player in-game saw and heard the same things, no matter where they were or who they were playing with.
This isn't "Fortnite's" first live whole-game event: Back in February, millions of players logged in to watch a live concert by EDM star Marshmello. This isn't even "Fortnite's" first movie promotion, considering it's advertised for films like "John Wick" and "The Avengers" in the past.
But this is first time a movie studio has used the game to share footage that can't be seen anywhere else, and considering how many people logged on to watch, it likely won't be the last.
Although I've always been a big fan of these live events, I've admittedly never been able to attend one - before now. At 2 p.m. on Saturday, I logged into "Fortnite" to see what the game had planned for their highest profile event yet.
Here's what "Fortnite's" explosive "Star Wars" event was like, from start to finish.
"Fortnite" first arrived in the summer of 2017, with the now ubiquitous "Battle Royale" mode arriving as a free update in September 2017.
The rest of 2017 and early 2018 was focused on putting "Fortnite" on more platforms.
By late summer 2018, the game was available on seven different gaming platforms: PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PC, Mac, iOS, and Android. And in 2019, the game amped up its promotional tie-ins - everything from "Star Wars" to "Marvel's Avengers" ended up in the game.
"Fortnite" players on any platform can play with any other platform.
"Fortnite" is the first truly cross-platform game; it even forced Sony to abandon its exclusionary stance on cross-platform gaming.
It's no surprise, then, that "Fortnite" is estimated to have grossed over $1.8 billion in 2019 across those many platforms.
With tens of millions of players around the world buying Battle Passes, and in-game items, and converting their real money into "V-Bucks," the game was able to amass billions in revenue without charging any upfront cost to consumers - a game-changer in an era of $60 blockbuster games.
That makes it the highest-earning free-to-play game of 2019, as well as the highest-earning game of the year, according to SuperData. It also puts "Fortnite" earnings above the latest entries in the annual "FIFA" and "Call of Duty" franchises, as wel as every other big game you can think of that arrived this year.
And there's no sign of it slowing down any time soon.
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