In a statement they made about their earnings from their work with Epic Games, Apple said that Fortnite has made at least $100 million and possibly much more from its 30-month work on the App Store.
According to the news published by Bloomberg, the total amount of revenue was announced at the witness stand in the federal court in California by Michael Schmid, an Apple employee who is responsible for the partnerships of games in the App Store. Schmid did not specify an exact amount and refused to say whether the income was more than $200 million. He said it would be “inappropriate” to share this information.
Actual income could be much higher
App market data company Sensor Tower said in a statement last year that users spent about $1.2 billion on Fortnite through the App Store, and Apple earned about $354 million in revenue. While on the Fortnite App Store, Apple received a 30% commission from the popular game for in-app upgrades.
Schmid, who manages his company’s relationship with Epic, also reiterated his previous statements that Apple had spent $1 million on Fortnite marketing over the past 11 months on the App Store. Epic’s attorney, Lauren Moskowitz, called the marketing-to-revenue ratio “a good deal.”
$100 million in revenue in two and a half years means a drop in the ocean for Apple. According to Sensor Tower estimates, the California-based Cupertino company generated approximately $22 billion in revenue from the App Store commission in 2020 alone. In fiscal 2020, Apple generated $275 billion in revenue across the company.
In his interrogation of Schmid, Epic tries to show the judge that Apple has made extraordinarily high profits from its App Store operation. As reported by the WSJ, Tim Cook is trying to make the claim that Apple’s apps in the App Store do not constitute a monopoly.
