Fortnite has lost millions after losing iOS support

Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 4 might be a hit but players on macOS and iOS devices haven’t been able to play the game. With August over, it’s been revealed that Epic has likely lost millions of dollars as a result of its feud with Apple.

Apple got 2 trillion dollars in revenue (and this is before the stock split happens on Monday). Shutting Epic Games and Fortnite down is nothing to them. https://t.co/BMFNxpmin9

— 𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔦𝔡 (@_Politico45_) August 28, 2020

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Fortnite loses money, but it’s probably going to be okay

A recent chart has highlighted how much money Fortnite made in August, and it showed a stark contrast to the revenue from even just the month before. From $52.5 million dollars in July to just $19.3 million in August, and likely $0 million in September, it’s likely to be a dent felt by Fortnite for sure.

Perhaps it would be better to say that Fortnite is going to make less money than it made the two previous years. Fortnite in 2018 and 2019 was the single most profitable game on the market, and it’s entirely possible to repeat that trend in 2020, even without support from Apple.

While this feud might be costing the company money now but may end up creating a future that allows Fortnite to pull in even more revenue, which would ultimately make it a worthwhile endeavor.

As the battle royale between @epic , @Apple and @Google continues, the #fortnite maker's revenue has taken a huge hit in revenue from the two app stores. The game was averaging $51m between April and July this year from the stores alone. https://t.co/EN3Cyo75AP pic.twitter.com/HUtgI7pRp8

— Statista (@StatistaCharts) September 2, 2020

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If Fortnite isn’t making money, doesn’t that mean Apple isn’t making money as we?

One important consideration is that Fortnite isn’t making money on the iOS store because Apple removed it, but Apple wouldn’t be making money off of Fortnite at all anyway because Epic introduced a way for players to bypass the iOS store.

This means that Apple doesn’t really have a financial incentive to allow Fortnite back onto the App Store no matter how profitable Fortnite becomes.

Nevertheless, both companies have plenty of other sources of revenue to pull from, and so neither one is likely feeling too much of a pinch.

Stock gains this year:Tesla +444%Zoom +341%Wayfair +256%Docusign +192%Shopify +170%Etsy +169%Teladoc +153%Wix +140%Nvidia +121%PayPal +88%Spotify +88%Amazon +85%Apple +71%Salesforce +66%Netflix +63%eBay +52%Microsoft +44%Facebook +43%Twitter +28%Google +23%

— Jon Erlichman (@JonErlichman) August 28, 2020

Revenues are down, but stocks are up?

A quick glance at both Fortnite and Apple’s stock prices show that both companies saw big spikes in their stocks shortly after their lawsuits began, with Epic’s stocks almost doubling before crashing down to just modest gains since the lawsuit. Apple also has been making steady gains, with a modest drop at the beginning of September.

This likely means that both companies will have the stamina to drag out this legal battle for quite some time, though things can change quickly when dealing with the tech world.