Fortnite just had its biggest day ever, 6 years in
Just over six years after launch, battle royale thrills Fortnite just broke his all-time one-day player record by going back in time. The launch of Fortnite O.G, a special season that brings back the game’s original Chapter 1 map, attracted a whopping 44.7 million players on Saturday, November 4, with 102 million hours of play to their name. That is according to a message on X (formerly Twitter) from the official Fortnite account.
A way to start things off with a big bang
We are overwhelmed by the response #FortniteOG. Yesterday was the biggest day in Fortnite history with over 44.7 MILLION players participating and 102 MILLION hours of play.
To all Fortnite players, OG and new: THANK YOU!
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) November 5, 2023
According to live stats tracker Fortnite.gg, the highest number of concurrent players on Saturday was 6.2 million – by far the highest number since developer Epic Games made the number of live players available earlier this year. This is much lower than the 12.3 million concurrent players Epic claimed for the “Astronomical” event with Travis Scott during the April 2020 COVID lockdowns.
The performance is even more remarkable when you consider that Fortnite remains unavailable on iOS devices, and only as a sideload via the Epic Games app on Android, due to Epic’s ongoing legal battle with mobile platform holders over their retail fees.
What brought all these players back? Partly nostalgia for five years ago. Fortnite O.G recreates the game as it was in July 2018 during Chapter 1, Season 5, Tilted Towers and all. The rest of O.G will speed through the rest of Chapter 1 at the rate of one or two seasons per week. Season 6 returns on November 9, Seasons 7 and 8 on November 16, and Seasons 9 and X on November 23. There are also curated selections of “classic, mashup and fresh” items available through the OG Pass and OG Shop.
Players are already clamoring for it O.G to become a permanent mode for Fortnite, while Epic may reconsider running it as a shortened season. Albeit in a different genre, with a different business model, Blizzard has had great success with running World of Warcraft classic parallel to the modern game, though even ClassicThe game’s audience is split into two distinct cohorts: those who stick with the original, classic era, and those who enjoy going through previous expansions just a little faster than the first time.
Fortnite has now joined Wow by proving that in the ephemeral world of online gaming, where nothing ever stays the same, nostalgic callbacks can be a big box office hit. Even if the nostalgia they’re drawing on is only five years old.