Is this the beginning of the end for Fortnite? Revenue drops to a new low, popularity waning ahead of season 8

Epic Games' Fornite has been a global phenomenon since launching back in 2017. The game has managed to successfully thrive on the growing popularity of battle royale games and aside from Grand Theft Auto V, no game in the last 10 years has had the sort of impact that Fortnite has had on the gaming world.

Other developers have recently looked to muscle in on the trend of battle royale games, and both Battlefield V and Call of Duty Black Ops 4 are looking to make major inroads on Fortnite players. Due to this, Fortnite's impending doom has long been speculated, although Epic Games experienced record revenue in December.

Nevertheless, the story couldn't be more different for the beginning of 2019, as a new report claims that Fortnite saw a huge drop of 48% in revenue during January. This should be a major cause for concern for Epic Games, as a rival battle royale game Apex Legends was released earlier this month.

Since its release, the Titanfall spinoff has already attracted more than 25 million players across all platforms, and Electronic Arts has reported the largest growth in stock value since 2014. Due to this, it is reasonable to speculate that Fortnite's February revenue earnings could take a further hit due to Apex Legends surprise early success.

In light of the renewed competition to dominate the battle royal market, Epic made the surprise decision of allowing players to earn the Season 8 Battle Pass for free. Players had to complete a series of in-game tasks in order to earn the pass, although these were relatively quick and easy.

It remains to be seen if Epic Games will continue this trend in the future, although Frontier is well and truly gearing up for a new season. Season 8 will launch on Thursday, February 28th, and recent teaser videos released by Epic Games point towards a pirate theme.