How many people play Fortnite? After bursting onto the scene in 2017, Fortnite has since become a worldwide phenomenon, amassing 650 million players across the globe as of November 2023, up from 400 million in May 2021. Why is Fortnite so popular? The reasons Fortnite has become such a global hit are clear. Not only is the game free to play, but it is also available on most gaming platforms. On top of this, Fortnite's most popular gameplay mode is the battle royale mode, in which up to 100 players fight it at once. This means that the re-playability of the game is infinite – each game is unique. Keeping players engaged with live services Fortnite Battle Royale is also a live service game, meaning that the game receives regular content updates to keep players engaged. Each season of the game roughly lasts 10 weeks and features events such as online concerts, and cosmetic changes. The game’s current iteration is called "鬼HUNTERS (Demon HUNTERS)" with a theme around yōkai, hunters and Japanese culture. Live service games are here to stay By offering cross-platform, multiplayer gaming with a live service schedule, Fortnite covers two of the biggest gaming industry trends, which the majority of the industry intend to follow. A 2023 of global gaming studios found that more than nine in ten studios were either working on or intending to release a live services title. With regular, cadenced, and themed updates to free-to-play games, studios motivate players to keep returning and, eventually, spend not only time but also money on the game. This seems to work for the parent company Epic Games – Fortnite was one of the most downloaded PlayStation F2P game in the EU and North America in 2024.

As of June 2020, battle royale star Fortnite had approximately 80.4 million monthly active users worldwide. This is up from 78.3 million MAU in September 2018. The cross-platform title which was released in July 2017 has been popular right from the start and reported 350 million registered users worldwide in 2020.

Having burst onto the scene in 2017, Fortnite has since become a worldwide phenomenon, amassing almost 250 million players across the globe as of March 2019. Having first been released in July 2017, the battle royale game took just two weeks to reach 10 million players, a figure which doubled to 20 million players after only six weeks. In less than a year, the game had acquired a staggering 125 million players.

Since its release in 2017, Fortnite has become one of the most popular games in the world. The Battle Royale game, in which up to 100 players fight it out at one time until one player is left standing, generated revenue of *** U.S. dollars in December 2019, more an increase of *** million U.S. dollars compared to the precious month.

Fortnite – the money maker With *** million users registered worldwide in early 2020, it is no wonder that Fortnite is making its developers, Epic Games, a lot of money. The game has found the most success in the United States, where it generated a staggering ** million U.S. dollars in its first year after release. Given the nature of the game and the trend in gaming as a whole, it will come as no shock that the vast majority of Fortnite players in the United States were male, with over ** percent falling into the 18-34 age category.

In-game purchases key to success Given that Fortnite is a free-to-play game, how does it generate such a vast amount of revenue? The answer lies, as with many other commercially successful free-to-play games, in in-game purchases. According to a survey carried out in the United States in February 2020, about 77 percent of Fortnite players admitted to making in-game purchases. Using their hard-earned cash to purchase V-Bucks, gamers then use the game’s currency to buy upgrades ranging from outfits and characters to gliders. What’s more, almost ** percent of U.S. Fortnite players confessed to spending money on emotes, which allow their character to celebrate their kills and victories with elaborate dance moves.

Kyle Giersdorf, more commonly known by his gamertag Bugha, was the most successful Fortnite player in the United States based on prize money earnings as of January 2025. Giersdorf's total career earnings through Fortnite, as of that month, exceeded 3.7 million U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, Harrison Chang aka psalm came in second place with total career earnings amounting to around 1.87 million U.S. dollars. eSports tournament prize pools Professional eSports players can earn up to millions of dollars in prize money at international competitions. As of the year-end 2024, the Dota 2 championships had amassed the highest cumulative prize pool from eSports games worldwide. The International, which is a Dota 2 tournament, was the most lucrative eSports tournament worldwide, with the winners of the 2021 iteration of The International walking away with approximately 40 million U.S. dollars. Popular battle royale games Battle royale games are multiplayer games which combine aspects of free-for-all or team-based shooters with components from survival games, such as having to scavenge for equipment within a hostile open-world environment. As of January 2025, Fortnite was the most popular PlayStation 5 game based on monthly active users worldwide, ranking above entries such as Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto V. When it came to the most streamed battle royale games worldwide Fortnite also took the top spot, surpassing Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone, which racked up 4.7 million weekly viewer hours in March 2025.

In November 2023, battle royale title Fortnite launched the OG season, taking players back to the original Chapter 1 map and re-introducing various in-game items from the earliest seasons of the game. The nostalgia was strong in this one, and Fortnite players on Xbox and PlayStation consoles spent nearly 1.48 billion hours on the online title in November 2023, up by 146 percent from the hours spent on Fortnite in the preceding month.

At the end of 2024, digital gaming store Epic Games Store reported approximately 74 million monthly active users via PC. This represents a slight decline compared to the previous period. The EGS reported approximately 295 million total PC users. Epic Games Store is operated by Epic Games, the publisher of battle royale hit Fortnite.

First released at the start of 2017, PUBG: Battlegrounds (previously known as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds) is one of the most popular games on Steam and had 861,598 peak concurrent players in the last recorded month, April 2025. The highest number of concurrent players was recorded in January 2018 at 3.24 million. One of the biggest games on Steam PUBG gained a devoted legion of fans in a short space of time after its release, and cumulative unit sales of the game hit 75 million in December 2021. The game has also been critically acclaimed — it won the Best Multiplayer Game at The Game Awards in 2017 and its free-to-play mobile version for Android and iOS, released in 2018, was nominated for Best Mobile Game at The 2018 Game Awards. This critical success has also translated into commercial success, as the game generated millions of U.S. dollars of revenue, most successfully in the United States. On January 12, 2022, the game has become free to play. Battle of the Battle Royale games PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is an online battle royale game in which up to 100 hundred players battle it out until there is only one player or one team left standing. This format of game has become very popular in recent years. While PUBG has a strong following, especially on Steam, it has come under pressure from rival battle royale game, Fortnite. First released just several months after PUBG, Fortnite has since become a cultural phenomenon, amassing 500 million registered users in just six years. As of 2025, both PUB and Fortnite are still going strong with their loyal audiences.

The statistic shows the leading eSports games in Vietnam in 2018, broken down by number of monthly players. In that year, around 100 million monthly users played the game League of Legends, followed by Fortnite with about two million monthly players.

Fortnite is one of the most popular video games across the world, with the battle royale title racking up a global user count of over *** million. In September 2020, Fortnite record almost ** million monthly active users across all video game consoles.

In January 2025, first-person shooter (FPS) favorite Call of Duty was the second-most popular game on the Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X consoles worldwide, ranking second based on monthly active users. Battle royale game Fortnite ranked first.

In December 2023, Epic Games was the most popular video game publisher across Xbox and PlayStation gaming consoles, accounting for 13.9 percent of monthly active users on the platforms. The resurgence of Fortnite has led to Epic Games overtaking the previous leader, Electronic Arts (EA), who made up 13.6 percent of console gaming MAU during the measured month.

At the end of 2024, digital gaming store Epic Games Store reported approximately 295 million users via PC. This represents a significant growth compared to the previous period. Overall, the EGS had approximately 74 million monthly active users via PC. Epic Games Store is operated by Epic Games, the publisher of battle royale hit Fortnite.

First released in 2017, the battle royale game Fortnite has become popular with audiences worldwide. The game also has a sizeable eSports segment, and Kyle Giersdorf, also known as Bugha, is the most successful Fortnite eSports player with lifetime earnings from the game of 3.73 million U.S. dollars. Second-ranked David Wang, also known as Aqua, has accumulated about 2.19 million U.S. dollars in winnings from the game.

According to a February 2020 survey of Fortnite gamers in the United States, respondents had spent an average of ****** U.S. dollars on in-game purchases. Overall, about ** percent of responding Fortnite audiences had spent money on the free-to-play title.

The esports market is experiencing explosive growth, projected to reach $2.11 billion in 2025 and maintain a robust Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 20.05% from 2025 to 2033. This expansion is fueled by several key drivers. Increased viewership and engagement across platforms like Twitch and YouTube are creating a larger audience for professional gaming competitions. Simultaneously, the rise of mobile gaming and the accessibility of esports through mobile devices are broadening participation and viewership demographics. Strategic investments from major players like Tencent Holdings Ltd (through Riot Games), Activision Blizzard, and Electronic Arts are further propelling market development through improved game production, enhanced tournament infrastructure, and strategic marketing initiatives. The diversification of revenue streams, encompassing media rights, advertising and sponsorships, merchandise and ticket sales, and other revenue models, adds to the market's resilience and growth potential. Geographic expansion, particularly within rapidly developing esports markets in Asia-Pacific, is another crucial factor contributing to the market's expansion. However, challenges such as the need for standardized regulations and addressing concerns related to player health and well-being, especially concerning burnout and mental health, need to be addressed to ensure sustainable growth. The competitive landscape is dynamic, with established companies and emerging startups vying for market share. The segmentation of the esports market, categorized by revenue model and streaming platform, offers valuable insights into current market dynamics. The Media Rights segment is likely the largest contributor, followed by Advertising and Sponsorships, reflecting the significant value placed on broadcasting rights and brand association within the esports ecosystem. The dominance of Twitch and YouTube as streaming platforms underlines their importance in delivering content to the global esports audience. However, the emergence of other platforms such as DouYu and Hayu suggests increasing competition and innovation in content delivery. Regional analysis reveals that North America and Europe currently hold the largest market shares, but rapid growth in Asia-Pacific markets presents significant future opportunities. This region's high mobile penetration and burgeoning gaming culture are expected to fuel substantial expansion in the coming years. Furthermore, effective brand partnerships and the development of new, engaging game titles will play a pivotal role in sustaining the esports market's impressive growth trajectory. Recent developments include: January 2022 - A new category of 1440p NVIDIA G-SYNC esports screens and seven new games benefit from low latency thanks to NVIDIA Reflex. Since reducing system latency is recognized by gamers and game developers as essential to a quality gaming experience, the NVIDIA Reflex low latency ecosystem has grown significantly over the past year. Eight top-ten competitive shooters, including Apex Legends, Valorant, and Fortnite, support Reflex. Each month, more than 20 million GeForce gamers battle with Reflex ON. More than 50 mouse and screens support their Reflex Analyzer, enabling players to assess system latency quickly. Such developments are expected to flourish the esports market in the forecast period., February 2022 - Nintendo delivered its first Direct event of 2022 in a 40-minute presentation that featured several brand-new games and remakes. Highlights from Nintendo Direct 2022: Switch Sports, Mario Strikers, and announcements of other games. The market is expected to expand due to the release of multiple games.. Key drivers for this market are: Increasing Popularity of Video Games, Growing Awareness about eSports. Potential restraints include: Increasing Popularity of Video Games, Growing Awareness about eSports. Notable trends are: Advertising to be the Largest Sources of eSports Revenue.

According to a February 2020 survey of Fortnite gamers in the United States, ** percent of respondents played Fortnite roughly *** to *** hours per week, while **** percent admitted to playing for ** weekly hours or more.

In January 2025, Fortnite still was one of the most popular video games across the world, ranking first among the most popular PlayStation 5 titles worldwide based on monthly active users. First-person-shooter Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II/Warzone 2.0 placed second.

According to figures provided by Airnow, the net revenue made on Fortnite in the Netherlands was highest in July and December 2018. The source defines net revenue as the revenue made with in-app purchases after the stores (Apple App Store and Google Play Store) received their share. As Fortnite is not available on the Google Play Store, the numbers provided here only concern the Apple App Store. Fortnite is a free-to-play Battle Royale video game, where up to 100 players are pitted against each other in a fight for survival until only one player is left standing. Both Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (commonly referred to as PUBG) have received much media attention in 2018 due to their high popularity. Early 2019, another game in this genre started to get attention: Apex Legends.

At the end of 2021, digital gaming store Epic Games Store reported approximately 13.2 million peak concurrent users via PC. This represents a 1.5 percent growth compared to the previous period. The EGS reported approximately 160 million total users. Epic Games Store is operated by Epic Games, the publisher of battle royale hit Fortnite.