Epic Games’ costly antitrust lawsuits against Google and Apple could have resulted in total expenses of nearly a billion dollars and thus revenue losses for Fortnite, says company boss Tim Sweeney.
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It took years for Epic’s lawsuits against Google and Apple to be decided, and during that time Epic Games spent hundreds of millions of dollars on expensive court and legal fees. Fortnite was also removed from both the Google Play Store and the App Store, which has had a significant impact on Epic’s revenue in recent years – although less so on Android, as Google allows sideloading of apps. Fortnite has only now found its way back to iOS, but only in the European Union thanks to the EU’s new Digital Markets Act.
This leads us to an interesting question: how much did Epic spend on these lawsuits? Epic Games remains one of the largest gaming companies in the world thanks to its lineup of hugely popular live games (several chart-topping games like Fortnite, Rocket League, and Fall Guys), and has also received billions in investments from companies like Sony, Disney, and even Tencent, which owns around 40% of the company.
In a recent interview with Stephen Totilo’s game fileEpic Games CEO Tim Sweeney actually answered this question. In total, the lawsuits could have cost the company almost $1 billion, which is about 5% of Fortnite’s total revenue.
“If we have spent a billion dollars so far, that is a small price to pay for the future freedom of our company and everyone else who wants to participate in the market,” Sweeney told Game File.
Sweeney went on to say that Epic may have lost around $1 billion in microtransaction revenue because Fortnite was not available on iOS for four years.
Nevertheless, Sweeney is extremely optimistic: “We believe that Epic and the entire gaming industry have better days ahead.”
