NetEase's Knives Out Revenue Edges Past $370 Million

According to Sensor Tower's Store Intelligence estimates, NetEase's Knives Out has surpassed worldwide gross revenue of $370 million in less than a year on the App Store and Google Play. Knives Out was released November 2017 alongside another battle royale title from NetEase, Rules of Survival. Rules of Survival recently surpassed $75 million, but Knives Out has been outpacing Rules of Survival thanks to strong quarterly earnings growth.

Knives Out just had its best quarter ever in terms of revenue. For Q3 2018, the title grossed approximately $135 million and ranked No. 13 among all apps. These Q3 figures represent a 10 percent increase compared to Q2 and a 71 percent growth compared to Q1.

The success for NetEase from this title has come almost entirely from the East. Japan and China combine for an estimated 97 percent of Knives Out revenue to date. Of the two countries, Japan accounts for the largest contribution at 74 percent, or $274 million, of all worldwide revenue. Note that the China figure does not factor in Android revenue.

While achieving this milestone revenue, Knives Out accumulated more 58 million installs. The majority of players installed from the App Store, which represents 64 percent of the title's downloads to date. Knives Out downloads in September were high enough to keep the game in the top 300 most downloaded games of the month.

Meanwhile, genre leader Fortnite has earned nearly as much as Knives Out in just over six months on the App Store alone.