There is new data on the top games in the global digital gaming market March 2018. Fortnite is now the largest free-to-play game of all time on PS4 and Xbox One. But how did Far Cry 5 and Sea of Thieves perform? And how could someone defeat LoL?
What is it about? Every month, the analysis firm Superdata releases three top 10 lists. They describe which games generated the most revenue worldwide digitally on PC, consoles, and mobile.
Typically, there is relatively little change because the games earn their digital revenue through microtransactions. Therefore, games-as-a-service tend to dominate. Many of them are not current games, but perennial favorites like Grand Theft Auto V or sports games like FIFA 18.
However, this month, in March 2018, there was indeed some movement. This is due to strong March releases like Far Cry 5 and Sea of Thieves, but also due to the unstoppable rise of Fortnite.
PC: Hey, how could someone defeat LoL?
What’s happening on PC? In fact, for the first time in ages, a game other than “League of Legends” is in the number 1 spot for PC games. It is “Dungeon Fighter Online”, a game from the Asian region. It celebrated its 3rd birthday and introduced events. Players were to level up their champions with special items. This seems to have significantly increased revenues.
Fortnite: Battle Royale is in 5th place on PC, ahead of PUBG and World of Warcraft. Overall, across all platforms, Fortnite earned $223 million. This is 73% more than in February, Superdata reports.
Far Cry 5 has made a solid entry at an impressive 9th place.
PS4 and Xbox One: Far Cry 5 strong, Sea of Thieves too
What’s happening with PS4 and Xbox One: On consoles, Fortnite dominates in March. It has surpassed PUBG on all platforms.
Far Cry 5 has made a strong appearance and debuted at 2nd place on consoles. Here, digital sales were 5 times higher than Far Cry Primal two years ago. However, this is not only due to Far Cry being so strong, but also because significantly more is purchased digitally on consoles in 2018 than in 2016.
Sea of Thieves had a decent start at 7th place, but there is a catch. Although the Xbox One title has 1.7 million active players on Xbox One and 283,000 on PC, Superdata notes that more than half are just sampling Sea of Thieves for free through Xbox Game Pass. The long-term success of Sea of Thieves seems questionable here.
Overwatch is also not found in the top 10 this time. It was out in February.
Racing game accelerates on mobile
What’s happening on mobile? On mobile, a “kart racing game” QQ Speed by Tencent is making a big rise. It has generated $100 million for the 3rd month in a row.
Honor of Kings, which half of China is addicted to, cannot compare. Here in Germany, the unofficial mobile variant of LoL is called “Arena of Valor”.
With Fortnite, mobile on iOS really kicked off in April. The revenues here are not yet accounted for. This should change in April 2018. Fortnite is also supposed to come to Android.
In April 2018, the dominance of Fortnite in the numbers from Superdata could become even greater than it already is.
More about the turbulent gaming market:
4 year old game beats Destiny 2 in digital revenue on PS4, Xbox One
