Fortnite's removal from App Store presents an opportunity worth $1.2 billion for other mobile games

Of late, much has been made of Epic Games’ bitter feud with Apple and Google. On 13th August, Fortnite fans around the world were stunned to find that the game had been removed from both the tech giants' app stores. The reason was that Epic had provided Fortnite gamers an alternative payment method that allowed them to save around 20% of their money.

Of course, it also excluded Apple from its traditional 30% fee, levied on each and every transaction made on its app store. Since then, a lawsuit has been filed by Epic, while CEO Tim Sweeney came out and alleged that Apple is the most 'manipulative business in the world.'

The lawsuit alleges that Apple follows various 'anti-competitive' practices, and demands the reinstatement of Fortnite on their app store. Since then, we have reported that Apple have made nearly $400 million dollars from Fortnite alone.

Of course, this is only 30% of the total market, as Fortnite has accumulated more than $1.2 billion since the game was launched in March 2018 on the Apple app store.

Image Credits: EarlyGame

In this article, we look at the beneficiaries of the move, and whether it might prove to be an opportunity for other games.

Fortnite's removal from App Store presents opportunity worth $1.2 billion for other mobile games

Across Google’s and Apple’s app stores, Fortnite had till date accumulated 144 million total downloads, according to SensorTower. Out of this, 133 million downloads were done by iOS users, while around 11 million have been made on Google’s Play Store. In 2020 alone, Fortnite has garnered around $293 million from Apple’s App store.

Needless to say, these are some mind boggling numbers. On the flipside, this directly opens up a huge gap in the mobile battle royale market. It is a basic economic principle that it is 'demand' that creates the 'supply' for a particular product. Apple’s decision to remove Fortnite has instantaneously left an untenable demand worth around $1.2 billion.

Image Credits: UnGeek

There are many games that can profit from this situation. Off the top of our heads, there is COD Mobile and Garena Free Fire, two mobile games that have already garnered a lot of attention for various reasons.

Furthermore, there is PUBG Mobile, which has problems of its own, considering the recent ban that the Indian government has levied on the game, which is another move which has instantaneously wiped out a huge market.

Image Credits: NDTV Gardgets 360

Regardless, whether Fortnite Mobile will return in time is something we will have to wait and see. Until then, it will be interesting to observe which games comes out on top, now that Fortnite is gone for the time being.