Epic Games has published its first review of the year 2024 of the Fortnite ecosystem, and it has many reasons to celebrate.
Epic said Fortnite UEFN (Unreal Editor for Fortnite) paid out $324 million to creators in 2024. The number of creators in the ecosystem has almost tripled to 70,000 and they have published over 198,000 islands (games/ experiences).
These islands also see significant traffic, as almost 60,000 islands have been played on average per day. And more than 70% of gamers play both creator-made games and Epic-made games like Battle Royale.
The average number of players in creator-made games increased every year across the board in 2024, with daily active players up 15%; total hours played increased by 5%. And there has been significant growth in non-combat game genres.
More details
The creator community continues to grow at a rapid pace, with the number of creators nearly tripling from 24,000 in 2023 to 70,000 creators in 2024. The number of published islands has also doubled to a total of 198,000 in 2024, including 137,000 islands created in the UEFN.
Although engagement varies from month to month due to seasonality, the average number of players engaging on Creator Islands on a daily, monthly, and annual basis has increased across the board this year, with an average daily players increasing by 15% in 2024.
Epic said it’s inspiring to see more creators succeeding in the Fortnite ecosystem. In total, $352 million was paid to creators in 2024, an increase of 11% if we measure the periods from March to December 2023 to 2024.
In 2024, players spent 5.23 billion hours playing creator-made games, a figure that represents 36.5% of Fortnite’s total playtime and continues to rise. This represents a 5% increase from 4.98 billion hours in 2023.
These numbers are supported by significant growth in game genres that do not feature combat, such as social role-playing, board games, deathruns, and horror. So far in January 2025, this type of diverse content accounted for more than 30% of time spent on creator-created experiences, an increase of almost 50% compared to the same period last year.
New features and devices
In 2024, Epic has enhanced the capabilities of what creators can create with UEFN with the launch of First Person Camera, new UI tools and HUD controls, input triggers, chat proximity, persistence, custom NPCs and many other impactful features.
In the Creator Portal, Epic has rolled out new ways to understand a creator’s audience, with improvements to analytics and metrics around your payments, your player base, and the introduction of island satisfaction data. Epic also launched Creator Profiles to help players find all relevant islands in one place, and a Favorite Creator to help you build a following in Fortnite.
The beloved IPs are coming to UEFN and Fortnite Creative in 2024, allowing you to create innovative games and experiences with official gaming assets and devices from The LEGO Group, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Fall Guys. This initiative allows you to develop authentic commercial games using world-class intellectual property without getting bogged down in contracts or negotiations, and is made possible by a unique agreement.
This year, Epic’s highlighted islands included Love-is-Real’s ARPG Fort Knight Legend, which pushed the boundaries of Verse UI, Verse Persistence, and RPG elements to deliver a vast and exciting experience.
Another was Havoc Hotel 2 [Roguelike] by TeraCreators, who set the standard for roguelike PVE in Fortnite, blending custom UI, RPG elements, and retention mechanics to engage players beyond the role-playing and tycoon genres.
There was ItsJacky’s Lumberjack Heroes, which showcased the power of UEFN with its custom UI and engaging gameplay loop. The island’s depth of gameplay has inspired other creators to push the boundaries of Tycoon-style content.
And another popular release was the Pizza Shop Tycoon Boss Fight update! by TomJank, used TMNT models, prefabs, and devices to create an authentic and engaging Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles experience.
Finally, Epic highlighted Gauntlet’s The Kraken: Bossfight, a polished role-playing game (RPG) that has taken the community by storm. With gripping quests, exploration, dungeons, and an advanced boss fight, it sets a new standard for immersive gameplay.
Looking to the future
As Epic looks ahead to 2025, it plans to open up more possibilities for creators. Including moving Scene Graph into beta testing, introducing custom assets, and launching additional tools to help creators create deeper, more complex games with UEFN in new and popular genres.
The company acknowledged that it has improvements to make to UEFN and the creator experience. He said he is committed to increasing stability, improving interaction times during development, giving creators information and tools to maintain and grow a player base post-launch, and making Discover the best representation of the wide variety of games available to players.
Later this month, Epic will update the public Fortnite Creator Roadmap to let creators know what other features and updates they can expect throughout the year. The company will discuss the roadmap in detail, as well as more in-depth conversations, at Unreal Fest in Orlando, June 2-5.
