Epic Games has revealed it paid out a total of $352m (~£285.8m) to Fortnite creators in 2024.
The total revenue paid to creators using Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) to create new experiences marked an 11% increase in revenue compared to 2023.
Epic Games, the developer and publisher of Fortnite, shared the news as part of its year in review highlighting the success of Fortnite Creative and creators using UEFN.
Alongside revealing the total amount of revenue generated, Epic Games revealed 58 creators managed to earn over $1m (~£812,045) through projects they had created using Epic Games’ toolset.
In addition to the increase in payout, the number of creators tripled from 24,000 to 70,000 with nearly 200,000 user-created islands created throughout 2024.
With more user-created experiences for players to access, engagement with Fortnite Creative and UEFN projects has also increased. Epic Games says the average daily player count increased by 15% compared to 2023.
The review also reports Fortnite players spent over five billion hours playing games made by creators. Five billion hours equates to approximately 36.5% of Fortnite’s total playtime in 2024.
Fortnite esports in 2024
While Fortnite’s creator programme continues to set impressive records, the free-to-play battle royale’s esports scene also saw growth throughout 2024.
The FNCS Global Championship recorded peak viewing figures of 809,000 marking an 80,000 increase from the 2023 edition of the tournament.
2024 was the first year the FNCS was operated by BLAST after signing a multi-year deal with Epic Games in January.
Growth also continued for Fortnite esports ahead of the FNCS Global Championship that took place in September. Stock car racing series NASCAR partnered with the tournament to host online and in-person activations.
Outside of Epic Games-sanctioned tournaments, event organiser ESL FACEIT Group expanded into Fortnite in April 2024. Known as ESL Featuring Fortnite, the competitive experience uses UEFN to create new game modes as an alternative to the format used in FNCS competitions.
