Fewer Hours Playing Doesn't Curtail Fortnight Spending

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It turns out that you Fortnite addicts are probably not prone to violent behavior in real life, despite what the president and video-game detractors say (and have said, on and off, for decades, before there even was a Fortnite). That's according to a new statement from the American Psychological Association. But that doesn't mean you're not total spendthrifts.

A new report from online financial marketplace LendEDU—a two-years-in-the-making followup to its previous "Finances of Fortnite," which we covered in 2018—says that more users are spending money in the game. Spenders have increased from 66 percent of players up to 77 percent. The average in-app spender is shelling out more money, too, with the average moving from $84.67 in 2018 to $102.42 now. That's a 21 percent increase.

Here's a sad stat: 35 percent of those surveyed thought that making an in-game purchase somehow gave them an advantage in the game. That's way up from 2018's 20 percent.

For another one-third (34 percent), Fortnite is the first game in which they ever made an in-game purchase—that's actually down from 37 percent in 2018.

How about time spent in Fortnite simply playing (a.k.a. trying to stay alive)? The hours spent in the game have dwindled a bit in two years. Click the Play button below, and you can see the changes, thanks to an interactive Infogram chart.

An interesting new wrinkle this year is that the IRS—which wants its pound of flesh from anyone using virtual currency—had some language on its site at one point that made it sound like Fortnite's V-Bucks might be targeted for taxation. That actually won't happen; the IRS changed the language to reflect that. But LendEDU asked about it and found that 75 percent of people didn't even know about the IRS wanting V-Bucks reported in taxes, and that another 63 percent said they wouldn't account for it on their taxes even if they had to!

LendEDU also wanted to find out whether esports were capturing more hearts and minds than watching traditional sports. In all of the questions, traditional sports—a major event like the Super Bowl, or a pay-per-view, or just the leagues in general—is the winner.

For a full look at all the questions asked in the survey of 1,000 people conducted by Pollfish in February 2020 on behalf of LendEDU, go read the full results.

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