Photo Credit: Epic Games
Epic Games has shared a look at Fortnite’s user-generated content year in review using the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN). The tool was released in 2023 and allows users to play with creation assets and now new intellectual property assets.
Despite launching only a year and a half ago, the Fortnite UEFN community has grown from just 24,000 in 2023 to more than 70,000 creators in 2024. The number of UGC island created also doubled to a total of 198,000 in 2024—including 137,000 UGC islands. On average, nearly 60,000 creator-made islands were played each day, with 70% of all Fortnite players playing both Epic-made and creator-made games in 2024.
Engagement with user-created island varies monthly due to Fortnite’s seasons. While Epic doesn’t share exact numbers, it does say that players engaging with UGC islands increased across the board this year with an increase of 15% compared to 2023. A total of $352 million was paid to creators in 2024, an increase of 11% when measuring the March – December time periods (2023 vs. 2024).
Only 7 creators have made more than $10 million using UEFN, while 14 creators crossed the $3 million payout threshold. 37 creators reached the $1 million threshold, while 154 made at least $300,000 using UEFN this year. This graph illustrates creator payment thresholds for 2024.
Photo Credit: Epic Games
In 2024, players spent 5.23 billion hours playing games made by creators, a number that represents 36.5% of total Fortnite playtime. It highlights how important user-generated content has become to the Fortnite ecosystem, especially as IP owners look to including assets in this mode. New UEFN features introduced this year include a first person camera device, new UI tools and HUD controls, proximity chat, custom NPCs, and more for game creation.
Epic also rolled out a new Creator Portal to help creators understand their audiences, improve analytics and metrics, and understand their player base and satisfaction with creations. Creator Profiles help players find all of a creators islands in one place and to help build audiences inside of Fortnite.