Digital games revenue grows 15% worldwide in October. Players spent $8.5 billion across console, mobile and PC in October, up from $7.4 billion in the same month last year. Growth was underpinned by a 28% jump in premium PC thanks to Destiny 2’s successful BattleNet launch, and the continued blockbuster hit of PLAYERUNKNOWN’S Battlegrounds. Gains were also strong in mobile (19%) with the continued rise of major games like Honour of Kings.
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- PLAYERUNKNOWN’s Battlegrounds sells another 5 million units. PUBG had its biggest month ever on the back of a seemingly unstoppable hype train. But has it met its match in Fortnite
- Destiny 2 has a solid release on PC. Destiny 2’s much-anticipated Blizzard Battle.net PC launch proves very successful. High attach rates for deluxe editions drove the average selling price up.
- Super Mario Odyssey launches on Switch. Mario sold 191,000 digital units in October, making it the biggest digital launch on Switch to date. However, digital download rates continue to lag those found on the Xbox and PlayStation consoles.
Single player games still have legs. While multiplayer-centric genres (FPS, MOBA, and Battle Royale) are in the spotlight, there is still room on the stage for single-player focused games. In October, South Park: The Fractured but Whole, Middle Earth: Shadow of War, and Assassin’s Creed: Origins collectively generated over $160M through digital full game sales. However, we don’t expect these games to have as much success in the long run, compared to the multiplayer genres, as it is generally harder to monetize through microtransactions in a single-player focused title.
Battle of the Battle Royales: PUBG vs Fortnite. While Fortnite has seen a higher out-of-the-gate active user base thanks to its F2P status, the game’s long-term success vs. its major and earlier-released rival is uncertain.
Epic is a veteran game development company and PLAYERUNKNOWN’s Battlegrounds’ first major—but certainly not last—competitor. Fortnite: Battle Royale’s MAU has grown larger than PUBG’s in the month of October across PC and console. Still, Fortnite’s total revenue is a fraction of PUBG’s due to the former being a free-to-play title compared to PUBG’s $30 price point. But Fortnite has a leg up on the additional content front, having already introduced cosmetic microtransactions through an in-game cash shop late in October. The challenge will be converting its higher user base into spenders.
December will be an important month for both games; PUBG will be releasing exclusively on XB1 on December 12th and will be leaving Steam Early Access on Steam in “late December” with a new map. Fortnite will, presumably, leverage their cash shop and introduce Christmas-themed cosmetics and will have to fight PUBG for user’s attention on XB1.
- Top 10 games by Platform:
PC:
- League of Legends
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
- Fantasy Westward Journey Online II
- Destiny 2
- Dungeon Fighter Online
- Crossfire
- World of Warcraft
- World of Tanks
- Middle-Earth: Shadow of War
- ROBLOX
Console:
- FIFA 18
- Middle-Earth: Shadow of War
- Destiny 2
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Assassin’s Creed Origins
- NBA 2k18
- Forza Motorsport 7
- South Park: The Fractured But Whole
- Madden NFL 18
- Gran Tourismo Sport
Mobile:
- Honour of Kings
- Fantasy Westward Journey
- Lineage M
- Clash of Clans
- Monster Strike
- Lineage 2 Revolution
- Fate/Grand Order
- Clash Royale
- Candy Crush Saga
- King of Chaos
Monthly active players, top growing games, unique viewers 
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