What you need to know
- Apple reportedly made $100 million in revenue from Fortnite when it was on the App Store.
- That figure was revealed when Apple's Michael Schmid testified earlier today.
Apple made a ton of money off of Fortnite when it was in the App Store.
As reported by Bloomberg, Apple made at least $100 million in revenue from Fortnite when it was in the App Store. Michael Schmid, who leads App Store business development for games, revealed the figure when he testified as part of the Epic v. Apple trial on Wednesday.
Schmid wouldn't specify an exact dollar amount and declined to say if the revenue was more than $200 million, saying it would be "inappropriate" to share that information. Epic's Fortnite launched on the App Store in 2018 and was present until Apple removed it last year.The actual revenue may be far higher. Users spent almost $1.2 billion through Apple's App Store on Fortnite, generating revenue of about $354 million for Apple, app market data firm Sensor Tower said last year. When Fortnite was on the App Store, Apple took 30% commissions from the blockbuster game for in-app-upgrades.
Schmid also revealed that Apple spent $1 million to market Fornite when it was on the App Store.
Schmid, who manages his company's relationship with Epic, also reiterated prior statements that Apple spent $1 million on marketing for Fortnite during its last 11 months on the App Store. Epic's lawyer, Lauren Moskowitz, characterized the the marketing-to-revenue ration as a "good deal."For Apple, $100 million in revenue over two and a half years is a drop in the bucket. The Cupertino, California-based company generated about $22 billion from App Store commission in 2020 alone, according to Sensor Tower estimates. In fiscal 2020, Apple made $275 billion in revenue across the entire company.
There have been some other notable testimonies during the trial recently, with both Phil Schiller and Craig Federighi taking the stand.
