Is Fortnite the next YouTube? Perhaps \u2014\u00a0but Epic Games has higher aspirations.<\/p>\n
As Fortnite evolves from a popular video game into a robust ecosystem of creators, brands and virtual worlds, some observers have begun to compare Fortnite to other creator platforms, <\/strong>like YouTube. These comparisons have only grown as Epic Games continues to build out its creator tools, including expanded visibility of creator engagement metrics and AI-enabled coding assistants, which were unveiled at last week\u2019s Unreal Fest conference in Orlando, Florida.<\/p>\n Although Epic Games\u2019 leadership appreciates the parallels, CEO Tim Sweeney has mixed feelings about the analogy. He views Fortnite\u2019s ongoing push to onboard creators as a stage of the platform\u2019s evolution, rather than a means to an end. Epic Games is trying to build the metaverse, per Sweeney, rather than just create a destination for creators to entertain audiences and generate revenue.<\/p>\n At Unreal Fest 2025, Digiday spoke to Sweeney and Epic Games evp of the Fortnite ecosystem Saxs Persson for an in-depth conversation about Fortnite\u2019s evolution, the platform\u2019s approach to creator monetization \u2014 and how Epic\u2019s legal battle against Apple helped pave the way for Fortnite\u2019s future as a creator platform.<\/p>\n (Editor\u2019s note: Epic Games paid for this reporter to travel and board at Unreal Fest 2025, but did not agree to specific coverage. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)<\/em><\/p>\n Saxs Persson: <\/strong>I think most media platforms that have a social component will go through the same toddler and adolescent changes \u2014\u00a0growth pains and growth spurts and stalls \u2014\u00a0so, yeah, I think it\u2019s very similar. We like YouTube as a comparison, because it\u2019s not so much platform-focused as it\u2019s creator-focused.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tim Sweeney: <\/strong>You mentioned YouTube. It didn\u2019t sit right with me, and I think the reason is that, when you build a brand on YouTube, you\u2019re really stuck on YouTube forever. Like MrBeast: What\u2019s he going to do from there \u2014\u00a0start a TV station, make a movie? Whereas, with the evolution of our tech, we\u2019re serving both the Fortnite creator community and the Unreal Engine community. They\u2019re currently separate-ish, but they\u2019re using common tools.\u00a0<\/p>\n With the next generation of technology that we\u2019re evolving into over the next several years, you could build an experience in Fortnite, have it take off, and decide to release it as a standalone game \u2014\u00a0but not leave the Fortnite economy and player base behind. You can integrate the social features that we make available as Epic Online Services. And, in the future, when we have the cross-platform open economy, you could have an item shop that interoperates with the Fortnite item shop, and supports all Fortnite outfits and vice versa. So, Fortnite is not a place where you\u2019re going to be locked into somebody else\u2019s mode. It\u2019s a place where you can launch a business, and it\u2019s your business.<\/p>\n Tim Sweeney: <\/strong>Yes. If Apple gets to determine the rules for the metaverse, then they\u2019re going to set rules that turn developers into peasants in their fiefdom. They\u2019re going to say, \u2018you can\u2019t make your own metaverse engine; you can\u2019t operate your own economy. You have to do everything the Apple way.\u2019 That\u2019s just the rights part of it, which fundamentally is the most important thing.<\/p>\n But then, there\u2019s also the economic aspect of Apple controlling everything. They\u2019ve used their 30 percent paywall to extract almost all the profit from games. A lot of major game companies are operating at the scale of billions of dollars a year; they\u2019re breaking even, or even losing money, because 30 percent taken off the top is almost all the profit that can ever be made from these games \u2014\u00a0and it\u2019s even more so with ecosystems like Fortnite and Roblox, where we have really significant operating costs. It\u2019s not just a game: We\u2019re operating servers, we\u2019re hosting everybody\u2019s content. There\u2019s huge moderation at scale, and just a lot of costs. You can look at Roblox\u2019s finances: Roblox is making a gigantic amount of profit, and it\u2019s all going to Apple.<\/p>\n Saxs Persson: <\/strong>It\u2019s making an assumption that there\u2019s one needed; I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s true, and at least we don\u2019t think so right now. The number went out today: $722 million paid out over the last 24 months. From an engagement share perspective, our economy is very healthy, and we\u2019ve spent a lot of energy on trying to make sure that we reward things that the players love and come back to play. So, more than anything, we think, from a value perspective, that we\u2019re able to offer fair compensation for creators in the ecosystem.<\/p>\n Tim Sweeney: <\/strong>I think [Fortnite] is the most effective and fair economy that\u2019s ever been seen in gaming, if you look at Fortnite\u2019s numbers versus other games\u2019 numbers. For the most part, people don\u2019t want to be drawn into this loot-box economy, where you\u2019re spending more and more money to try to get something that\u2019s elusive and not guaranteed. So, if you look at the other monetization vectors that are operating at scale in the entire game business, it\u2019s a whole lot of vice that we\u2019re happy to not have in Fortnite.<\/p>\n Saxs Persson: <\/strong>It\u2019s part of the picture, but it\u2019s not a specific consideration. What are brands really saying? They\u2019re saying, \u2018we can\u2019t invest because we don\u2019t know what the returns are,\u2019 and part of that is because of the opaqueness of the data, right? So, I think transparent data helps on a range of different things, including sponsored deals. If a creator makes a deal with a brand for a certain amount of exposure, or whatever the brand is out to get \u2014\u00a0and then players play that island because they liked it \u2014\u00a0that\u2019s great. That\u2019s just the economy working as it\u2019s intended.<\/p>\n Tim Sweeney: <\/strong>No. People love wearing Nikes and watching Star Wars, and I think we need to judge everything that we see in an app or a game by whether we want to see it, we\u2019re happy to engage with it and it\u2019s making the thing better. I think [Nike] Kicks<\/a> in Fortnite make it better. It\u2019s always funny to go in with a totally serious outfit and some ridiculous shoes, or vice versa. And I think all the crossovers and collaborations we\u2019ve done in Fortnite just made the thing better, and there\u2019s not an element there of selling out. If some lame brand comes to us and proposes doing something that\u2019s going to be lame in Fortnite, of course, we say no. So, as long as it\u2019s all contributing towards player fun, I support it.\u00a0<\/p>\n The risk here is that the ecosystem turns against players\u2019 interests, and is wasting their time in exchange for money, as you see happening in a lot of places in the digital world nowadays. Everybody who\u2019s thinking about these issues should read Cory Doctorow\u2019s essay on \u201censhittification,\u201d<\/a> or basically the process in which good ecosystems tend to turn bad. These founder-led endeavors turn into hedge-fund style financial extraction schemes, and the end result just becomes terrible for users. We\u2019ve seen that on almost everything: YouTube, where they play two or three ads while you\u2019re trying to watch a stupid video, or the Apple App Store, where you search for Fortnite and the first result is \u201cPUBG.\u201d The critical thing in all of this is that the ecosystem serves the players, and if brands are participating in having islands, that\u2019s cool \u2014\u00a0but they\u2019d better not be getting in your way when you\u2019re willing to do something else.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nSome observers, including <\/strong>myself<\/strong><\/a>, have drawn parallels between the current state of Fortnite as a creator platform and the early days of YouTube. Do you think this comparison is fair?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Was your <\/strong>legal challenge against Apple<\/strong><\/a> necessary to achieve this vision for Fortnite\u2019s future?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
There are currently two revenue streams available to Fortnite creators: the engagement payout and brand deals. What will be the next big revenue stream to be unlocked for Fortnite creators?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Fortnite recently launched a <\/strong>data application<\/strong><\/a> that helps creators more easily access metrics for their experiences such as recommendations and minutes played. Was this new product intended to help advertisers feel more confident about Fortnite?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Tim, two years ago, you told Digiday that you <\/strong>hate advertising in games<\/strong><\/a>. Since then, brands like Nike and Lego have developed a presence in Fortnite. Does this reflect a change in your perspective around ads in games?<\/strong><\/h2>\n