It’s easy to assume that a first-party Nintendo game such as Mario or Zelda would be the most-played Switch title anywhere on the planet. But then again, 2018 was a strange year filled with surprising results. Fortnite on Switch, in fact, was the most played title on the console in Europe last year.
Nintendo posted a list in the Switch News App regarding the most-played titles on the system last year. Fortnite takes top honors, with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe rounding out the top 5.
Other third-party games that made the top 21 include FIFA 19, Minecraft, Skyrim, Rocket League, Stardew Valley, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Octopath Traveler, and Paladins. There aren’t many details beyond that, like playtime for instance, but the news does show that Fortnite was one of the most prolific game releases of 2018.
Looking at mobile sales, Fortnite dominated the last month of 2018, grossing $69 million in December alone. Although it wasn’t the highest-grossing game of the year on mobile (that goes to Knives Out), it amassed $455 million in sales on mobile alone.
The amazing success of Fortnite has made Epic Games one of the most influential, and of course most profitable, video game companies in the world. The company is now worth around $8 billion, and its founder Tim Sweeney is now worth around $7 billion, making him one of the top 200 richest people in the world.
With the success, people are looking to take to Fortnite to court over what they view as the game stealing their ideas. Alfonso Ribeiro, ‘Backpack Kid,’ and rapper 2 Milly have all sued Epic Games in the last year in an attempt to seek damages from the game’s dance moves. Scrubs star Donald Faison also isn’t happy about his own dance move being a part of the game.
