Free-to-play console revenue up 359% year-on-year as Fortnite thrives

February was another good month for digital games, as the market was up six per cent year-on-year, finally passing the $9bn mark to reach $9.1bn (£6.46bn), according to SuperData’s monthly report.

This growth was driven by the free-to-play console segment which increased by an impressive 359 per cent year-on-year. Fortnite Battle Royale was the driving force behind this growth, the data firm pointed out. Epic’s title climbed two spots compared to January’s charts, landing at No.3, and “earned more additional content revenue on console than any game other than Call of Duty: WWII” (which charted at No.1), SuperData said. The firm added that Fortnite now has more monthly active users than Grand Theft Auto V, which took the fifth place in February’s digital charts.

Elsewhere, the console sector saw a 34 per cent growth year-on-year and the premium PC segment increased 33 per cent during the same period. Free-to-play PC decreased four per cent year-on-year while mobile increased slightly four per cent.

Going back to the charts, there are not a lot of changes compared to January, except EA Sports UFC 3 debuting at No.9 in the console listings, having released early in February.