Is Fortnite dying? How many people play Fortnite in 2022?
Last updated: October 1, 2022
Featured image © Epic Games
Is Fortnite dying in 2022? Four years after the initial release, millions of people play Fortnite concurrently across all platforms. The game features comic book visuals, 100-man massacres, and frequent collaborations with Marvel, Star Wars, and other franchises. It’s not a surprise that fans spend hundreds of dollars on in-game purchases and Fortnite gifts every year - they are awesome! The question of the day is: how many people play Fortnite?
Let’s warm up with some Fortnite statistics before we start.
TOP Fortnite statistics 2022 (editor’s choice):
- 2.5-4 million people play Fortnite concurrently in August 2022.
- Fortnite has more than 350 million registered players.
- Fortnite generated $9 billion in the first two years after the release.
- 116 million people used to play Fortnite on iOS.
- In 2022, Fortnite ranks #7 onTwitch.
- 77% of Fortnite players have made at least one in-game purchase.
- The record for # of concurrent viewers on Twitch is for a Fortnite game.
We here at TechACake.com share new video game statistics every week. However, we’ve been waiting for the right moment to collect data for Fortnite - one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world. What’s not to love: Fortnite is free-to-play, beautifully designed, and available on most gaming platforms in 2022. (Make sure to check out our Gaming category for the latest player count of many popular video games on your way out.) Without further ado, let’s get ahead and talk about Fortnite!
Fortnite player count 2022
Both PUBG and Fortnite came out in 2017 and they took the world of video gaming by storm. Since then, battle royale has become one of the most popular video game genres with more and more games coming up every year. In 2022, millions of people play Fortnite every day and seasonal events push the Fortnite player count even higher than usual. How many people play Fortnite in 2022? Let’s find out:
1. In October 2022, between 2.9 million and 4.5 million played Fortnite concurrently across all platforms.
(Source: Playercounter)
How many people are playing Fortnite right now? The source website, playercounter.com, has an algorithm thanks to which they track the active player count of many popular video games. Our team monitored the active player count for weeks before we added the numbers in this article. According to the latest Fortnite live player count, there are between 2.9 and 4.5 million Fortnite active players in October 2022.
According to Epic Games, Fortnite is currently available on PC and macOS, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, and Android OS 8.0 or higher. Millions of people used to play Fortnite mobile on iOS but the mobile app is no longer available on AppStore. We’ll cover that in more detail in a minute.
2. In October 2022, Fortnite ranks #10 on Twitch.
(Source: Twitch Tracker)
Games like League of Legends, CS:GO, and Minecraft have settled down in the Twitch top 5 games by number of concurrent viewers. Fortnite has been in the Twitch top 10 for years now and it’s no wonder - the interest in the game is still very high in 2022. (See stat #13.) According to the Fortnite streaming statistics, in October 2022, there is an average of 4,500 Fortnite Twitch channels and between 50,000 and 300,000 concurrent Fortnite Twitch viewers. According to LendEdu, more than 25% of all Fortnite players also watch Fortnite streams on Twitch (see source #12).
3. 62.7% of all Fortnite players are in the age group of 18-24.
(Source: Statista)
The bulk of Fortnite players are between 18 and 24 years old. When it comes to Fortnite demographics, more than two thirds of all Fortnite players are male (72%), 22.5% - are in the age group 25-34, 12.7% are in the age group 35-44, only 2% of all Fortnite players are between 45 - 54 years old, and more than 25% of preteens in the US play Fortnite.
4. Most Fortnite players come from the US and Brazil.
(Source: Playercounter)
We all know how large the American gaming community is. And when it comes to the most popular battle royale franchise ever - things get pretty massive. As many as 27.52% of all Fortnite players come from the US, 8.8% - form Brazil, 5.50% - form Russia, 5.14% - from the United Kingdom, and last but not least - 4.78% - from Germany.
Image © Epic Games
How many people play Fortnite?
With more than 80.4 million Fortnite monthly active users and up to 4 million concurrent players every day, Fortnite is the most popular battle royale game in 2022. With the massive cumulative tournament prize pool of $7.88 million in 2020, Fortnite is the third leading eSports game in the world. In January 2021, a Fortnite streamer broke the world record for number of concurrent Twitch viewers. During the four years after the Fortnite release, the game has been nominated for more than 40 gaming awards. Let’s have a look:
5. In 2020, there were 80.4 million Fortnite monthly active players.
(Source: Eurogamer)
There’s a difference between active players and registered players (see stat #10). More than 80 million people played Fortnite every day in 2020. During the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, people turned to entertainment and what could be better than video games. We revisited some of the older franchises we never had time to enjoy before. (At least not as much as we wanted to.) And of course, Fortnite was one of the most popular choices.
6. As of April 2020, Fortnite players have played the game for a total of 3.2 billion hours.
(Source: Finances Online)
How did people play a total of 3.2 billion Fortnite hours? Well, let’s see:
The typical Fortnite player spends between six and ten hours in the game every week (see source #12). However, around 5% of the Fortnite player base spends more than 20 hours in the game every week. Now, the three major modes of Fortnite are Battle Royale, Creative (sandbox), and Save the World (PvE). We can safely say that Fortnite Battle Royale is the most popular Fortnite mode so far, of course. And each Fortnite battle royale game lasts about 20 minutes. Actually, 3.2 billion hours of Fortnite gameplay seems about right.
7. As of 2022, Fortnite has been nominated for 42 gaming awards and won 19 of them.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Congratulations, Fortnite! 🎉 Here’s a part of the Fortnite list of awards that are worth noting in 2022:
- Best Ongoing Game (Game Critics Awards, 2018)
- Choice Videogame (Teen Choice Awards, 2018)
- Ultimate Game of the Year (Golden Joystick Awards, 2018)
- Best Multiplayer Game (The Game Awards, 2018)
- Best Ongoing Game (The Game Awards, 2019)
- eSports Game of the Year (Golden Joystick Awards, 2019)
8. In 2020, the cumulative Fortnite tournament prize pool for Fortnite competitions amounted to $7.88 million.
(Source: Statista)
And this is not impressive at all. Check this out: in 2019 the cumulative Fortnite tournament prize pool amounted to the staggering $64.42 million. In H1 2021, Fortnite is the third leading eSports game in the world with a prize pool of $6.12 million, followed by PUBG mobile and Dota 2. The first two positions on that list were taken by CS:GO at #1 and PUBG at #2.
9. In October 2020, 116 million people played Fortnite on iOS devices.
(Source: Forbes)
Things were going great for Fortnite mobile before 2020 came along. And no, it had nothing to do with the global pandemic. More than 116 million people used to play Fortnite on iOS devices, 73 million of whom played Fortnite only on their iOS device. Fortnite mobile used to be a big deal before the lawsuit between Apple and Epic Games took place in H2 2020.
10. As of May 2020, there were 350 million registered Fortnite players.
(Source: Statista)
The news came via Fortnite's Twitter page. Within a year after the launch, Fortnite already had the amazing 125 million registered players. Three years after the launch, this number had skyrocketed to 350 million, rising with 100 million over the course of a single year. In 2021, we’re waiting for the next Fortnite player count milestone but for now this is the latest information we have. Currently, there are over 106 million Fortnite players according to the Fortnite Tracker.
11. In 2019, Fortnite players from the US spent an average of $82 for downloadable content (DLC).
(Source: Statista)
Enhancing your video game experience with DLC is far better than spending money on Fortnite cheats anyway. The record-breaker in this department is League of Legends. According to the latest League of Legends player count, US gamers spent an average of $92 for League of Legends DLC in 2019.
12. 58.9% of all Fortnite in-game purchases are spent on outfits and/or characters.
(Source: Landedu)
New outfits won’t help players win Fortnite more often but we live in an age when people love personalizing everything from the iPhone case to how their character looks in video games. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. According to the source, 68% of all participants in their poll had spent money in the game. However, only 20% of Fortnite players who had spent money in the game were not aware that this wouldn't give them an advantage over other players.
13. In January 2021, Fortnite gamer “TheGrefg” broke the Guinness Record with 2.4 million concurrent Twitch viewers.
(Source: Guinness World Records)
Twitch streamers are kind of like the Kardashians of the gaming community. Jokes aside, some of them really become minor celebrities and their streams attract thousands of Twitch viewers. Fortnite ranks #6 on Twitch and it’s only natural that there would be some epic content happening on Fortnite Twitch.
Like for example, the Fortnite: Battle Royale game between Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and the rapper Drake in early 2018. It was a record-breaker at the time with around 635,000 concurrent viewers. Ninja used to hold the world record actually. However, things changed… The current Guinness Record for highest number of concurrent Twitch viewers was awarded in January 2021, when David "TheGrefg" Cánovas Martínez (Spain) played a game of Fortnite and more than 2,468,000 viewers watched it concurrently on Twitch. Congratulations, TheGrefg! 🎉
14. In December 2017, Fortnite boasted 30 million registered players.
(Source: Statista)
Fortnite was released on July 25, 2017. Five months after the initial release, there were already 30 million registered Fortnite players. But that’s not everything! In January 2018, the Fortnite player base had already grown to the amazing 45 million registered players. And in 2020, there were already 350 million registered Fortnite players (see stat # 10).
Image © The Verge
How much money has Fortnite made?
In 2020, Fortnite made $5.1 billion across all platforms. In comparison, the Fortnite revenue 2019 amounted to $3.7 billion and in the previous 2018 it was $5.4 billion. During the first two years after the Fortnite release, the game generated $9 billion which is more than the revenue of 2018 and 2019 combined. This number became known to the audience because of the anti-trust lawsuit of Apple vs Epic Games.
15. Fortnite made $9 billion in the first two years after its release.
(Source: The Verge)
Fortnite is one of the highest grossing games of all time. GTA 5 made $1 billion during the first three days after the release in 2013 which made it one of the fastest-selling entertainment products ever. One of the most popular battle royale games ever, Fortnite, generated $5 billion during the first year after the release - the incredible rise in popularity of the free-to-play game definitely paid up.
16. In 2020, the global Fortnite revenue amounted to $5.1 billion.
(Source: Epic Games)
The initial craze about Fortnite brought millions of seasoned gamers and rookies to the game. And during the pandemic many fans revisited their favorite battle royale game. After a somewhat of a “slow” year in 2019, when the game grossed “only” $3.7 billion, 2020 saw a new rise in terms of the Fortnite revenue (but still less than what they made in 2018).
17. In May 2019 alone, Fortnite generated $420 million.
(Source: Statista)
And this was the record revenue for a single month back in 2019. There are video games that don’t generate that much money in their entire lifespan. They call Fortnite “the money maker” for a reason and the money people spend for in-game purchases and for downloadable content is the key to the massive success of the game.
18. In 2018, the global Fortnite revenue amounted to $5.4 billion.
(Source: Statista)
According to Statista, the country where Fortnite was most popular back in 2018 was the United States of course. Since we’re going to focus on Fortnite mobile in a second, it seems worth mentioning that in 2018, mobile battle royale video games generated a combined revenue of $2.8 billion. Fortnite iOS used to contribute to this number greatly but since 2020, this is no longer the case. Let’s have a look why:
What happened to Fortnite mobile?
Fortnite is one of the best battle royale games for Android in 2022. The game was released for Android in 2018 and three years later, Fortnite mobile on Android is still going strong. However, iPhone and iPad users are no longer able to play the game on their smart devices because of what happened in late 2020. Due to financial mismanagement, a lawsuit was filed against Epic Games and as a consequence Fortnite was removed from the App Store.
Mobile battle royale games are one of the most popular mobile game genres in 2022. WIth 12.4 million monthly active users, Fortnite mobile was unstoppable on iOS. (See stat # 9.) However, after the game was removed from the App Store, millions of iOS users were deprived of the opportunity to play Fortnite on their iPhones or iPads.
Is Fortnite the most popular battle royale game in the world?
In order to answer that question, we need to mention all the other battle royale games. The list is actually shorter than you think and if you want to know more about the best battle royale games - scroll down and have a look at the best games like Fortnite 2022.
There’s more than one Fortnite gaming mode of course, but the most popular by far is the battle royale. And the other big battle royale franchises are just a handful: PUBG, Call of Duty: Warzone, Apex Legends, Garena Free Fire, CS:GO Danger Zone, CRSED: F.O.A.D, Realm Royale. Of course, there’s a myriad of other battle royale games that we’re not going to mention now. Let’s stick to the biggest franchises today.
The battle royale genre is incredibly engaging and addictive so nobody’s wondering why so many people play battle royale games after Fortnite and PUBG came out. Many of the big video game companies invested in battle royale after we witnessed the massive success of Fortnite and PUBG.
Take Valve Corporation for example - those are the guys who created the video game digital distribution service Steam and who gave us games like CS:GO, Dota, Half-Life, and Team Fortress. After Fortnite and PUBG took the video gaming community by storm, Valve Corporation invested in a battle royale mode for CS:GO and it’s one of the most popular modes of CS:GO in 2022.
Now, when people say “battle royale” most of them immediately think of Fortnite. Why is that? The popularity of the game is a 21st century gaming phenomenon - with more than 350 million registered players in 2020 and around 3 million concurrent players every day (see stat #1), the game is certainly the most popular battle royale game in 2022.
Is Fortnite dead? Let’s see. If we compare it to the other two most popular games of that genre - Apex and PUBG - both of them are played by approximately 900,000 people concurrently every day. CS:GO Danger Zone is just one of the nine game mods of CS:GO so we can’t be certain of the player count there. But we know for sure that the battle royale is not the most popular mode of the nine. And last but not least, there are around 100 million registered Call of Duty: Warzone players - less than a third of the total Fortnite current player count. So, based on player count, it turns out that Fortnite is the most popular battle royale game in the world.
Image © PCGamesN
Is Fortnite dying in 2022?
With 350 million registered players, which was a rise of 100 million in the course of a single year, Fortnite is definitely not dying. In 2022, there are between 2.9 and 4.5 million people playing Fortnite concurrently every day across all platforms. This makes Fortnite the most popular battle royale of 2022. In Q3 2022, Fortnite ranks #10 on Twitch and two consecutive world records for number of concurrent viewers on Twitch in a single game were awarded while playing Fortnite.
Fortnite’s fifth birthday came and went on July 25, 2022. 🎉 The game has evolved a lot since the launch. Five years after the Fortnite release, people still can’t get enough of Fortnite. With every new season, players get new maps, weapons, and mash ups with some of the biggest comic book franchises.
Fortnite collaborations
Fortnite is famous for the crossovers with other franchises. It's one of the things fans love most about Fortnite - you never know what to expect from the next Fortnite season. Everybody loves a quality mashup, right? Most of those mash ups are all about cosmetics (characters and setting), soundtracks, and weapons. Let’s see:
It all started back in 2017, with the Infinity Gauntlet (Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War) - that was Fortnite’s Season 4 and first collaboration with Marvel out of many to come. Then we saw the National Football League in Fortnite Season 6 in a collaboration with NFL Cosmetic Items. In 2019, Kianu Reeves joined Fortnite in the form of his famous character John Wick - what a delight Season 9 was. The developers even included John Wick’s mansion on the Fortnite map. Cool!
Fans of Stephen King’s Stranger Things enjoyed the TV show mash up with Fortnite in Season 9 as well. And then came Fortnite Star Wars in December 2019 and fans went crazy. (Then there was The Mandalorian Star Wars Fortnite in 2020 - also amazing!) The battle royale event in 2019 was supposed to promote Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker - mission accomplished.
There has been a long series of cameos - in Fortnite Season X there were DC’s Batman and Catwoman (Save Gotham city!), then in Chapter 2, Season 1 we got to see Harley Quinn in Fortnite as a promotion to the movie Birds of Prey (2020). And of course, Deadpool, Aquaman, Captain America, Black Manta. The list goes on.
Mashing up with Rocket League was particularly interesting. In all fairness, the gameplay was 100% Rocket League with Fortnite characters driving the cars. This would explain the sudden increase of interest in Rocket League at the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. According to the latest Rocket League player count, the game used to rank in the Steam top 10 games by number of concurrent players in Q1 2021.
One of the most notable Fortnite collaborations is the one with Marvel’s Avengers and we’ve seen them in several Fortnite seasons so far. In 2020, we saw Marvel’s Avengers join Fortnite one more time and it was EPIC! It’s perfectly clear why teenagers love Fortnite now. Imagine how many Marvel (and Star Wars for that matter) fans registered on Fortnite just for the fun of seeing their favorite characters in a unique setting. And that’s valid for every franchise the game mashed up with.
Make sure to check out the Fortnite Wiki for more detailed information about each Fortnite collaboration.
Fortnite vs PUBG
Fortnite and PUBG were both released in 2017 and they changed the world of video games by introducing a brand new and exciting video game genre - battle royale. PUBG is one of the best games like Fortnite (scroll down and discover the other battle royale games that are worth your time in 2022) and oftentimes people compare the two.
Although the two games share a video game genre, they are quite different in terms of graphics, price, region of popularity, and gameplay. Check out the complete comparison of Fortnite vs PUBG for more details.
Image © Vortex
Apex Legends vs Fortnite
If you’ve been wondering about the differences and similarities between Apex and Fortnite, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll share some insights which might help you determine which game is right for you. Or just throw some light on the subject - being curious is part of the fun.
One of the major differences between the two battle royale giants is the frequency of adding new content and its quality. Scroll up and check out the numerous Fortnite collaborations if you missed it along the way. Long story short: Fortnite is famous for their mash ups which keep players coming back for more.
In terms of player base, both games are going strong. We need to give the edge to Fortnite of course - with more than 3 million concurrent players every day this is around three times more than what Apex can boast. According to the latest Apex Legends player count, around 900,000 people play the game concurrently every day in 2022.
Now, in terms of graphics Apex Legends is more realistic and detailed whereas Fortnite might seem cartoony and somewhat childish to some inexperienced players. Fortnite maps might be updated every season, but the general layout stays relatively the same. Apex on the other hand, sports locations specifically designed for battles (warehouses, abandoned buildings, etc.) but that seems to be more limiting than the imaginative world of Fortnite.
And last but not least - Fortnite vs Apex gameplay. Now, Fortnite definitely steals the thunder with some Marvel or Star Wars characters appearing in new seasons but that’s not all of it. With battle royale games there’s a lot of moving around and hurrying to get inside the circle when you hear the siren. There are so many means of transportation in Fortnite and some of them are really imaginative (e.g. shopping carts, golf carts, planes). However, Apex is way more fast-paced than Fortnite and offers players a more intense gaming experience.
Bottom line:
- Both games are free-to-play.
- Fortnite is two years older than Apex.
- Fortnite maps go through major changes every season.
- Fortnite has a three times bigger player base than Apex.
- Apex is more fast-paced than Fortnite.
Games like Fortnite 2022
With such a massive player base, it’s only logical that people are going to be on the lookout for more games like Fortnite. If you’re one of those Fortnite addicts, here’s a list of the best battle royale games of 2021. Although they share a video game genre, all the games we’re about to recommend to you differ in many aspects - graphics, number of maps, characters, and of course - year of release. Let’s have a look:
Call of Duty: Warzone
The Call of Duty franchise started out back in 2003 and in 2020 they gave us the free-to-play battle royale video game - Call of Duty: Warzone. It’s currently available on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam). How many people play Call of Duty: Warzone? As of April 2020, the Call of Duty: Warzone player count amounts to the impressive 100 million registered players. (Check out how many people play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare if you’re into that franchise.) In 2022, the game ranked on the list of top 10 Twitch games by number of concurrent viewers. Is Call of Duty: Warzone worth your time? Totally!
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
PUBG is a gaming phenomenon and a record-breaker on Steam. To this day the game occupies the #1 position on the Steam Charts for number of concurrent players - over 3.2 million people played PUBG concurrently in January 2018. The record is four years old and still no other game has been played more. Kudos! PUBG came out in 2017, almost simultaneously with Fortnite. It sports more realistic graphics than Fortnite and the biggest difference between the two battle royale giants is that Fortnite is free-to-play and PUBG costs around $30. Around 1 millions people play PUBG daily. A must-play!
Apex Legends
In 2019, Electronic Arts published Apex Legends - a free-to-play battle royale hero shooter game. In 2022, the game is still on the top 10 Steam games by number of concurrent players - funny enough, it comes directly after PUBG at the #4 position. The characters in the games are known as “Legends” and players enter the battle royale in a two- or three-person team. The game features three battle royale maps but more come and go with each Apex Legends event. If you’re looking for a mobile battle royale, there’s good news in that department. Apex Legends mobile is currently in a beta testing mode - a limited number of players are already playing the game on Android.
CS:GO Danger Zone
According to the latest CS:GO player count, the game has been on the #1 position on the Steam Charts by number of concurrent players since forever. Danger Zone is one of the nine official CS:GO game modes in 2022. It’s not a massive multiplayer game like PUBG or Fortnite where 100 players fight to survive. Danger Zone is much more limited - up to 18 players enter the map and fight until there’s a last man standing. There’s also an offline practice mode so if the battle royale video game genre is new to you - CS:GO Danger Zone is the best game to start with. On the downside - CS:GO is available only on PC (Steam), Xbox 360, PS3, macOS, and Linux, so no next-gen consoles.
CRSED: F.O.A.D
The game used to be known as Cuisine Royale when it was officially launched in December 2019. The new name stands for Cuisine Royale Second Edition: Fulfillment of All Desires. CRSED: F.O.A.D is currently one of the best battle royale games in 2022 and it’s available on PlayStation 4 and PlaySation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Steam), and Nintendo Switch - which is quite the advantage over other battle royale games. Cuisine Royale is a beautifully designed game and according to players, very challenging at the beginning. People can enter the game in one of four available maps and they can go solo or in a team of up to five players.
Realm Royale
The free-to-play third-person shooter battle royale video game Realm Royale came out in 2018. It was developed and published by Hi Rez Studios, the same company that gave us Smite (check out the Smite player count 2022 if you’re into MOBA games - it’s astonishing!).
According to the latest Realm Royale player count, the game is not that popular on Steam. However, Fortnite and Realm Royale are quite similar when it comes to graphics and gameplay. Make sure to check out our Realm Royale vs Fortnite comparison.
Wrap up
Is Fortnite dying in 2022? Not even close! Millions of people play the game every day and our research conclusively proved that Fortnite is indeed the most popular battle royale game in 2022. One of the things that makes players come back to the game is that the developers upload new content frequently and collaborate with some of the most popular franchises to spice things up in the game.
In 2020, Fortnite was pulled from the App Store because of Apple’s lawsuit against Epic Games. And Fortnite mobile is only available on Android in 2022. In a battle between PUBG vs Fortnite vs Apex we can safely say that the three games are super popular and very different in terms of gameplay and graphics. We recommended some of the best games like Fortnite 2022 so players can explore the realm of battle royale games even deeper.
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