Fortnite has broken yet another one of its records by reaching a massively higher player count than ever before. Millions of players around the world have picked up the pickaxe once again, thanks to the launch of a new season.
Launched in September 2017, Fortnite has already fully embedded itself in the heart of the video game industry, pulling in an average of just over 250 million monthly active players in 2022. From collabs with artists, streamers, movies, TV shows, and comic books to fully fledged in-game concerts featuring the likes of Ariana Grande and Travis Scott, the battle royale has done it all.
And it’s still growing. On November 3, 2023, Fortnite reached a new all-time high in the number of concurrent players. This information comes from the independent Fortnite tracking website Fortnite.GG, which has measured more than 5 million players logged into Fortnite at the same time. Since it’s only the first day of the new season’s launch, we can expect the player count to go even higher over the weekend when most people are free to play.
What’s happening in Fortnite?
The majority of the hype that caused such a high player count can be attributed to the launch of Fortnite Season OG, a one-month event that brings Fortnite back to its roots, featuring classic weapons, items, and locations that were last seen in 2018.
A remix of the franchise bringing back nostalgic gameplay but with modern pleasures like mantling and Nanite retained, it’s easy to see why Season OG is such a hit. Waves of remakes, remasters and rereleases have been hitting the entertainment industry as a whole, not just video games specifically. Once again proven by the high player count, executives have learned that if there’s one thing you can bank on nowadays, it’s nostalgia. But the Fortnite community in general seems to approve of the reversion. If the players are happy then this is more a cause for celebration, seeing that the wishes of both players and executives are, for once, lined up.
