The appeal of Fortnite's cosmetics are eating up the competition around other console franchises, according to a report published by market research firm Superdata.
This may not come as much of a surprise, as the free-to-play game recently earned over $1 billion so far from in-game purchases alone.
Superdata's analysis estimates that sales from Fortnite cosmetic and skins alone are masking a six percent drop of combined revenue from microtransactions and in-game content sales of other console titles across the globe.
The report also shows a 49 percent increase of revenue from in-game sales on consoles, and mentions how Activision Blizzard and EA Games noted in their financial reports that Fortnite introduced more players to their games, which lead to increased sales as well.
However, Superdata emphasizes that when Fortnite is excluded from this analysis, there's a six percent revenue drop across the entire industry as a whole.
The six percent drop includes sales figures of what Superdata lists as "top 50 digital console titles", and while those titles aren't explicitly provided, it can be assumed to include titles like EA's sports games such as FIFA 19, and Blizzard's Overwatch.
SuperData also believes the drop when removing Fortnite is not a coincidence, explaining that Fortnite players might be taking money they would spend in other console games on cosmetics and the seasonal Battle Pass instead and called that relation a "material cannibalization across top incumbent franchises."
On top of revealing how Fortnite encourages players from spending money on other games in favor of cosmetic upgrades, Superdata also suggests the game might be cannibalizing online viewership.
The analysis reports Fortnite's audience on streaming services like Twitch has increased 59 percent in the last three months, while CS:GO viewership dropped 51 percent, Overwatch viewership dropped 16 percent, and League of Legends viewership dropped 19 percent.
To read the entire Superdata analysis, click here.
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