The latest Superdata report says the worldwide digital videogames market grew six percent year-over-year in February 2018, hitting $9.1 billion in total. Interestingly, social, pay-to-play (subscription-based), and free-to-play markets on PC are actually all down slightly, but the premium PC market—that is, games that you actually have to buy if you want to play them—is up by 33 percent.
Overall digital spending in the US is actually up by 21 percent overall, according to the report, thanks to major games (Call of Duty: WWII was the top-earning console game for the month) and—surprise—the power of Fortnite: Battle Royale. PC free-to-play slipped by four percent, but Superdata said the free-to-play console market increased by 359 percent (that's not a typo, that's 359 percent) year-over-year, due to the popularity of Fortnite.
"Epic’s Battle Royale title showed no signs of losing steam," Superdata said. "Fortnite earned more additional content revenue on console than any game other than Call of Duty: WWII and now has more monthly active users than Grand Theft Auto V."
PUBG continues to be a major player, selling more than 2.5 million units on the month; PC sales are actually declining, but Xbox One sales are helping to compensate. Overwatch is also holding up well despite the pressure from the battle royale genre, thanks in large part to ongoing support through cosmetic updates and special events like the Lunar New Year celebration in February.
The top-ten earning games for the month, worldwide:
- League of Legends
- Dungeon Fighter Online
- Fantasy Westward Journey Online 2
- Crossfire
- Playerunknown's Battlegrounds
- Fortnite: Battle Royale
- World of Warcraft
- World of Tanks
- Hearthstone
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
