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SuperData: $35.7bn was spent on digital PC games in 2018, Fortnite made more money in one year than any game ever

SuperData: $35.7bn was spent on digital PC games in 2018, Fortnite made more money in one year than any game ever

The digital video games market generated $120bn last year, with PC making up $35.7bn of that figure.

That's according to research firm SupeData, which reports that the revenue rose 13 per cent in 2018 off the back of Fornite. The company reckons that Epic's battle royale title generated more money in a single year than any other in the history of our medium - not bad.

Free-to-play titles were behind 80 per cent of total games revenue last year, largely driven by Asia. That region was behind 62 per cent of money generated by free-to-play titles, with North America and Europe conversely being behind a whopping 80 per cent of revenue from premium games.

Globally, premium games saw a 10 per cent increase year-on-year, something that SuperData attributes to console title Red Dead Redemption. Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, however, generated the most revenue for a premium game on PC and console, making over $1bn. Revenue for PUBG Corp's battle royal title rose 19 per cent year-on-year.

SuperData also reports that 1.4m people played Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII on PC in its launch month with 1.4m people playing the title.

Here were the top premium PC and console games by revenue in 2018

1. Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, PUBG Corp, $1.028m
2. FIFA 18, EA, $790m
3. Grand Theft Auto V, Rockstar, $628m
4. Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII, Activision, $612m
5. Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar, $516m
6. Call of Duty: WWII, Activision, $506m
7. FIFA 19, EA, $482,
8. Monster Hunter World, Capcom, $467m
9. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft, $440m


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.