Given that it started life as little more than a side-mode for Epic Games’ Fortnite in 2017, the performance of its battle royale mode hasn’t been too shabby, to say the least. Since its release, Fortnite has maintained a steady lead in viewership numbers for streaming sites like Twitch, an 11-month concurrent record that was on course to hit the one-year mark. That is, until a new competitor entered the scene.
Apex Legends has become an overnight success for Respawn Entertainment since releasing last month, despite receiving little in the way of fanfare or pre-release buzz to elevate its profile. Its viral nature and spread through word-of-mouth has resulted in gigantic viewership numbers, often times knocking Fortnite off its perch at peak moments, but now the official figures are in and we know for sure that the latter has fallen just shy of a coveted 12-month streak at the top.
As per GitHype, Apex Legends finished February with an eye-watering 670,000 users in the month of February while Fortnite recorded 615,000. A close victory for Respawn, then, but a victory nonetheless.
An interesting result, for sure, but what’ll get tongues wagging more furiously will be how both titles stack up against each other going forward. The arrival of Fortnite Season 8 at the beginning of the month will no doubt bolster its viewer numbers, but Apex Legends has its own wealth of new content in the pipeline to keep pace with its competitor. Respawn’s own version of the Battle Pass, as well as new characters and gameplay elements, are scheduled to arrive in the near future, surely bringing players new and old into the fold.
But besides all of the data, we want to know what you think. Is Fortnite or Apex Legends your current battle royale of choice and why? Let us know in the comments section below.
