Lego Fortnite, the new survival game spin-off from the Fortnite The phenomenon that Epic Games launched on December 7 is off to a flying start. According to Epic's official player tracking, as recorded by Fortnite.ggLegoFortnite peaked at an astonishing 2.45 million concurrent players on Saturday.
To put that number in context, it's significantly higher than the all-time high any game on Steam to rescue The battlefields of PlayerUnknownpeaking at over 3 million concurrent players in January 2018. It is more than twice as many players as Steam's current most popular game, Counterattack 2had the same point on Saturday.
Lego Fortnite is also the dominant game mode within Fortnite themselves at this moment. It attracts roughly twice as many players as the main Battle Royale mode, and a similar number as the Battle Royale, Zero Build and Rated modes combined.
Epic launched two other new games within Fortnite last week: arcade racer Rocket Racing and rhythm game Fortnite Festival. These aren't nearly as popular as Lego Fortnite, although their peak player numbers are well into the six figures and would still be the envy of all but the top three or four games on Steam.
Together, the three new modes — launched side by side Fortnite's Chapter 5 and in the aftermath of the Big Bang event on December 2 represent a new era for Fortnite as it continues its evolution from a hugely popular battle royale shooter to a versatile reverse-style online gaming platform.
In an expert bit of stage management from Epic, this new era was ushered in by the month-long Fortnite OG retro event, which allowed players to revisit the original game map and cycle through several seasons from the game's first chapter. OG itself attracted record numbers of players, while Big Bang and the launch of Lego have allowed Fortnite Epic to keep the momentum going.
The highest number of simultaneous players for everyone Fortnite modes and maps combined on Saturday were 7.6 million – better than 6.2 million for OG, and well above 1-3 million concurrent players Fortnite previously signed in 2023, prior to OG's launch. (Fortnite's all-time concurrent player record is 12.3 million for the 2020 Astronomical event, while Big Bang racked up 11.6 million in one go.) By comparison, all of Steam had just over 10.1 million players in the game at the same time on Saturday.
unlike FortniteAfter the original's hasty evolution from a sandbox zombie survival game to a battle royale shooter, it appears that this final phase of development was carefully planned in advance. On Saturday, Donald Mustard, who left his position as Epic's chief creative officer in September, said Posted an outlined vision Fortnite as a hub with offshoots of 'PVP', 'kar', 'music' and 'survival'. The sketch is dated December 13, 2017.
I 'think' this is the first time we put our crazy idea out there. The idea of evolving Fortnite into a 'Place'. A place where you can enjoy a variety of agency-driven gaming and entertainment experiences with your friends – all connected by your 'hub' (your locker,… pic.twitter.com/XX34kVchDs
— Donald Mustard (@DonaldMustard) December 9, 2023
“It was such a HUGE, bold vision,” Mustard wrote. “We knew it would take YEARS and SO much work on so many fronts. We (I can't believe how close we were) thought it would take about six years. The plan has changed and evolved a million times, but today you are playing the TRUE vision of the dream of FORTNITE.”
It remains to be seen whether Lego Fortnite's popularity will last, but as it stands, Epic appears to have pulled off one of the most remarkable comebacks in online gaming history.