Fortnite OG racks up 1 million active players in the first 20 minutes

Fortnite OG, which this time launched as a whole separate game type with its own game pass, managed to rack up more than 1.1 million concurrent players when including the OG Zero Build game type. This came just a matter of days after breaking its own record for concurrent users, with 14 million players jumping on the game on November 30 for the Remix Finale event. Despite some claiming the Battle Royale genre is struggling, Fortnite has managed to average 30 million active users a day across the whole of 2024.

Fortnite Battle Royale launched in 2017 and helped further expand the appeal of Battle Royale games. Launched by Epic Games as a free-to-play title, it was praised for being a more approachable alternative to PlayerUnknown’s BattleGrounds, which launched just months before. It helped revive the fortunes of the original Fortnite game, which was a zombie survival title that was struggling for player numbers.

Breaking records

Part of Fortnite’s continued appeal has been its battle pass collaborations. The game has featured player skins, including the likes of Deadpool, John Wick, Star Wars, and Marhsmello. It has also hosted live events and concerts. Marshmello held the first-ever live concert in Pleasant Park in 2018, which was followed by gigs by the likes of Travis Scott, Major Lazer, and Ariana Grande.

On November 30 this year, the game held the Fortnite Remix Finale event featuring the likes of Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Ice Spice. Snoop even gave a premiere of “Another Part of Me (feat. Sting)” to mark the event. The concert saw 14 million people log on to the game concurrently, marking the first time Epic managed to surpass this milestone. Player numbers did drop as soon as the event ended, but Fortnite continues to post big numbers, even seven years after its launch.

Along with the in-game concerts, some of the most popular events in Fortnite are the OG events. Typically, these are released as temporary maps, with November 2023’s Chapter 1 Season 5 OG map bringing in nearly 45 million players and setting another record. However, since December 6, Fortnite OG has been added as a completely separate game type, which means it will be around for some time.

Image via Epic Games

Players can enjoy OG features, loot, locations, and gameplay. At the same time, Epic also offers OG Zero Build mode, which removes the ability to harvest materials and build defensive structures. Within 20 minutes of this new game type launching, more than 1 million players were active on Fortnite OG and a further 270,000 on OG Zero Build.

Fortnite OG here to stay

Fortnite OG hasn’t been without its critics, however, especially with regard to the introduction of the OG Battle Pass. This operates separately from the games’ other Battle Passes, despite many players hoping there would be a return to the original all-encompassing variants.

Fortnite is currently in Chapter 6 Season 1, which is called the Hunters Battle Pass. This season sees the introduction of Godzilla as well as Baymax from Big Hero 6. New locations include Brutal Boxcars, Demon’s Dojo, and Pumped Power among many others. The series ends on February 21, which means players have just over two months to bag all the new goodies.

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