The Rise of Apex Legends and Its Impact on Fortnite
The battle royale genre has a new champion: Apex Legends. Developed by Respawn studios, this game has quickly gained popularity since its release on Feb. 4. Within just eight hours, it attracted over a million players and dominated streaming platforms like Twitch, where it reached a peak of over half a million viewers.
However, the success of Apex Legends has also affected other games, particularly Fortnite, which has long been the biggest battle royale game in the world. With the release of Apex Legends, Fortnite saw a significant drop in viewership on Twitch.
Apex Legends Takes the Lead on Twitch
According to data from Twitch statistics website SullyGnome, Apex Legends surpassed Fortnite in terms of hours watched and peak viewers on Feb. 5. On that day, Twitch users watched over 6.3 million hours of Apex Legends, making it the most watched game on the platform. Meanwhile, Fortnite came in third with 2.4 million hours watched, trailing behind League of Legends. Apex Legends also garnered over 400,000 peak viewers, compared to Fortnite’s 200,000 viewers.
A Common Trend on Twitch
This shift in viewership is a common trend on Twitch. New games often dominate the platform for a few days before stabilizing. Given that Apex Legends is a direct competitor to Fortnite, it’s not surprising that it’s impacting Fortnite’s stats on Twitch.
Potential Impact on Fortnite’s Viewership
SullyGnome’s graphs indicate that Fortnite’s viewership numbers are not reaching the same heights as in previous weeks. The number of followers gained every hour by Fortnite streamers has also decreased. In fact, Fortnite lost the third-most followers in the last three days, only trailing behind Kingdom Hearts III and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
It’s still too early to determine the long-term impact of Apex Legends on Fortnite’s viewership. While many are curious to see if this newcomer will overtake the empire built by Fortnite, we need more time to assess whether this decline in Fortnite’s popularity is temporary or if Apex Legends is here to stay and compete for the battle royale throne.