Global consumers spent $8.9 billion on digital video games in March, an increase of two percent (YoY), according to the latest figures by SuperData Research.
Console digital revenue was the primary driver of growth last month, SuperData reports, driven by Epic Games’ Fortnite. This growth helped offset single-digit declines in the free-to-play (F2P) PC and social game markets. Note: these figures do not include physical game sales.
Holding Down The Fort
Fortnite jumped two spots to the number one console game for March. In fact, it is now the largest F2P console game of all time in both revenues generated and monthly active users (MAU).
Epic Games’ zombie survival/battle royale title generated $223 million across console, PC and mobile in March, an impressive 73 percent increase from February. Brand partnerships with Drake and an unlockable skin that looks like John Wick contributed to the massive growth, said SuperData.
Fortnite is doing well across all platforms, too. It debuted on iOS at number one in terms of revenue and has the highest conversion rate of any free-to-play PC game in March.
Far Cry Fanfare
Ubisoft’s Far Cry 5 sold an estimated 2.5 million digital units across console and PC in March. Digital console sales of Far Cry 5 rose nearly 500 percent compared to the launch of Far Cry Primal two years ago.
“This points to not only the underlying health of the Far Cry series but also to growing digital download rates for AAA console games in 2018,” said SuperData with the findings.
Still Crushing It
In March, Candy Crush experienced its most successful month since 2014. SuperData noted that King’s flagship mobile title has shown double-digit year-over-year growth since mid-2017. Activision purchased King in February 2016.
Speaking of Activision, Call of Duty: Black Ops III is still holding an “impressive” audience despite being two games old. A new mode and map will be released this month to help sustain the active player community.
Tencent’s mobile kart-racing game, QQ Speed, meanwhile, has generated over $100 million in revenue for its third month in a row.
Dungeon Fighter Online held the top spot in March for PC games worldwide and generated the highest revenue of any Free-to-Play PC title. SuperData attributes this success to a limited event that celebrated the game’s third-year anniversary.
