‘Fortnite: Battle Royale’ Crosses 500k Concurrent Players, Explosive Growth Due To Streisand Effect?

INQ: Epic Games’ Fortnite: Battle Royale has only been available for a month on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC but it has already seen some explosive growth in that short time. The developers announced the game reached new milestones Sunday with 3.7 million active players with a peak of 525,000 players at the same time. Did the game benefit from the Streisand Effect?

[Neonridr]

yeah but how about the base game?

[yeahokwhatever]

Nobody liked the base game, as it was lies sold on top of other lies. That's why they had to desperately change the game entirely. It's hilarious how blatant the ripping off was, and nobody cares because its the only option on PS4 right now. lol..

[GamingCentaur]

Games on XB1 and PC too.

[shadowraiden]

blatent ripping off? off who? as if anything they all rip off a 80's book which created the game mode.

PUBG doesnt own the game mode as its existed in other games 20+ years before PUBG existed.
unreal tournament had a similar game mode and what is 20 years old.

[shadowraiden]

base game is continueing to be developed on. any research would of seen that they did have plans for a BG style game mode at some point they just moved up the plans to help with funding.

and before you go oh stealing the game mode erm PUBG isnt new the game mode has been around for 20+ years in plenty of other games heck unreal tournement 2003 had a game mode where everyone spawned with nothing and was a free for all with last guy surviving winner and guns scattered all over the place so its hardly new.

and then lets not forget the fact its essentially stolen from a Book that was originally created in the 80's and then had a film(Battle Royal)

base game will continue to be improved with the stuff they also now get to add due to extra funding from the people buying boxes etc.

[Neonridr]

I guess.. but all this talk about "concurrent players" and total number of users only began once they launched the Battle Royale mode. All I am saying is, what about the base game. The way the game was designed to be played. Besides, it's now free to play on consoles with a userbase of like 90 million along with the PC crowd. The other game, that costs money, has only the PC crowd (until it releases on Xbox). The fact that the PC only game still wins out by a large margin shows you how successful it is. It's no surprise that other games want to try to steal its thunder.

Just so strange how defensive people are of Fortnite and how anti PUBG N4G has become. It's almost because MS has their hands in one automatically makes it the devil or something. I mean let's not ignore plain facts and numbers.

[Sgt_Slaughter]

I think that tinfoil hat was made three sizes too small, Neon.

[generic-user-name]

Lol at MS/PC fans trying to downplay Fortnite because it's 85% identical to PUBG and is on PS4.

"Then they basically copy another popular game out there, and interest spikes."

It's a mode, go complain about all mp games having a death match mode.

[Neonridr]

@generic - difference here is Fortnite was a completely different game when it released. It wasn't meant to be a Battle Royale game, it was meant to be a co-op, wave based, crafting, shooter, (insert other game type). Battle Royale was the last thing it was supposed to be.

Fortnite is on Xbox and PC as well, so your argument makes no sense. There are more people available to play Fortnite across all platforms and it is also free. I merely commented on the fact that interest spiked when they added a new mode to the game. One that made it more similar to another popular game out there. The sheer fact that now apparently the base game was awesome and people just didn't understand it and there was always plans for a BR mode is just hilarious now. I mean how much yarn do we have to keep spinning here?

[generic-user-name]

I don't know why you're complaining. The coop stuff is all still there, it's not like false advertising. Why does it bother you that the br mode made it more popular?

[Neonridr]

I am not complaining, I pointed that fact out and suddenly the world disagreed with me. I simply said that they took what worked on another popular game and put it into theirs. The arguments here don't make sense, it's not like Xbox owners can't play Fortnite too. I could understand people saying this is a PUBG vs Fortnite debate, but so many people are turning it into a PS4 vs Xbox flame war which is ridiculous since Xbox users will be able to play both games. So regardless of which one is better, the Xbox gamers would win out.

[generic-user-name]

"The arguments here don't make sense, it's not like Xbox owners can't play Fortnite too."

I think we both know that, until only a few weeks ago, Xbox was going to be the only place to be if you wanted to play a BR game on console (this year anyway), and the Xbox fans lorded it over the PS fans. Then Fortnite came along and took the wind out of their sails. It's not that Xbox owners can't play it, they/you are angry that PS4 players can play it, hence this nonsense criticism that Fortnite added a mode to their game for free and somehow don't deserve to be getting this popular.

[Neonridr]

I am a PS4 player, sorry I don't fit the general mold here on N4G. Just because I own a PS4 doesn't mean I automatically hate the MS or it's userbase. I am a PC/PS4/Switch gamer so I mix and mingle with everyone anyways. I don't pick sides, I support any and all if I choose.

It's not that they don't deserve it, but let's give credit where credit is due. PUBG made the BR mode as popular as it is today. Sure other games had it in the past, but nowhere near as successfully as PUBG is doing it now (H1Z1 also deserves credit since it was pretty popular before). So when a game comes out that has no business being a BR game, but then the devs add it in for free and interest spikes, where do we give the actual credit? To PUBG or H1Z1 for making that game type popular? For Epic making the game free since they knew not enough people would pay for it (certainly not the base game as it was)? Xbox users should be bragging that they can play both, if anything, not that PS4 owners can play a game that they can play themselves. At the end of the day Xbox owners would have 2 games to the PS4's 1. So I have a hard time believing that Xbox users would really care about that. Now when PUBG is available for PS4, then I could see Xbox users caring. Because then they lose the advantage.

[generic-user-name]

"I am a PS4 player, sorry I don't fit the general mold here on N4G. Just because I own a PS4 doesn't mean I automatically hate the MS or it's userbase."

Just because you have a PS4 doesn't mean you can't be bias, for all I know you got a PS4 so that you could go onto n4g and preface anti-Sony comments with 'I have a PS4, therefore I can shitpost about it'. Means nothing.

"So when a game comes out that has no business being a BR game"

Here's the part of your argument which comes across as complaining for the sake of complaining. I mean, who are you to say that it has no business adding in a free BR mode? Games add modes in all the time, especially early access games. Plus Fortnite's BR mode is crazy good fun and addictive, so that right there means it does have business being a BR game.

It's absolutely fascinating that the people complaining about Fortnite getting a BR mode made no such complaints when PUBG ripped H1Z1. Yes Player Unknown worked on H1Z1's version (remember when H1Z1 launched as a survival game and BR got added in later?), but that doesn't change that PUBG is still a rip of it, just like Fortnite.

[Neonridr]

I definitely didn't buy a base model PS4 and then a Pro, along with a PSVR so I could slam Sony. Seems like far too much money to have spent on supporting a company that I don't give a shit about. Not to mention the number of games I have bought.

I don't discount that PUBG took a successful model from H1Z1 and turned it into a more fleshed out experience. The only difference is PUBG is a battle royale game. It was created as a battle royale game, it will always be a battle royale game. I mean why not take a game like GTA V and just add in a BR mode now? Since GTA V's online is still popular. Or hell, let's just add it into Minecraft while we are at it.

Fortnite was created to be an entirely different game, that is the issue here. It's a 4 player co-op crafting, wave defense, grinding, hell of a good time. It just feels strange when they add a mode that completely changes the way a game is played to suit a particular craze. And then brag about the popularity when it took some drastic changes (free to play, new game mode) for the player base to spike. Good for Epic for being smart about current trends I guess.

[generic-user-name]

"The only difference is PUBG is a battle royale game. It was created as a battle royale game, it will always be a battle royale game."

So what? That's not a reason.

"I mean why not take a game like GTA V and just add in a BR mode now? Since GTA V's online is still popular."

They did, it's called Motor Wars, not quite the same of course because of the 30 player limit, but it's definitely inspired by the PUBG craze.

"Fortnite was created to be an entirely different game, that is the issue here. It's a 4 player co-op crafting, wave defense, grinding, hell of a good time."

And it still is that game, so I don't see how it's an issue at all. Nobody will put a gun to your head and force you to select the BR mode.

"And then brag about the popularity when it took some drastic changes (free to play, new game mode) for the player base to spike."

Why do you begrudge them their right to celebrate hitting a huge milestone, regardless of how they got it? Would they have hit that milestone without the BR mode? Probably not, so we are supposed to be annoyed with them for making a smart business decision?

[kevnb]

how are the microtransactions? I might try it sometime.

[ocelot07]

For fortnite? None at the moment at least for BR but they did say they will be selling cosmetic's at some point but noting that will give any players an advantage.

[Yohshida]

Free2Play over 3 Platforms, pretty low numbers for a clone.

[Goldby]

"yet, fortnite wont ever come close to PUBG's all time high of 1,985 Million people playing at the same time. Not even DOTA with 115 million players is close (1,291million all time high). "

may want to check your fact videogame.

Pubg is no where near 2 Billion players...

[shadowraiden]

clone from a 80's book? as PUBG is also a clone from the same book.

PUBG doesnt own that game mode if anything he stole the idea from the book and film and continues to release the same shit for everything with no innovation at all.

heck Arma 2 Battlegrounds had more and it was a free Mod than his "own" version of the game as he wanted a nice big paycheck off the exact same game.

if anything Epic could sue him for copying the game mode which they had put in Unreal Tournament 20+ years ago.

[hit17388]

Damn the hate on this comment section is outstanding. Why do people care that fortnite BR is doing good? It's a great game and fun and to top it all off is free on all 3 platforms. So why the hate on a free game that is fun to play. And to the people saying that it copy BG, so what? BG copy from H1z1, n many others that were out before. BG is a great game no doubt about it and I can't wait till it releases on my platform of choice, but damn stop complaining on a free game doing good.

[gamer9]

Fortnite is great. Nobody is complaining, more like calling people out on their BS when they say how much better it is than PUBG when they haven't played PUBG for 1 minute.

[bluefox755]

It's growing way faster than PUBG. Well deserved, it's a lot of fun.

[corroios]

Its funny the defense squad of PUBS againts the Fortnite. Just because one is coming sooner to one console and not to another.

They think that PC gaming got the same impact on videogaming.

[Bladesfist]

Well a lot of us are PC Gamers and have access to both. That seems less silly than the console only gamers arguing about which one is better when they can't even play both.

[1nsomniac]

It’s cause they’ve sorted out the load times. It was horrific before & made it pointless playing. Now the load times have been fixed it’s a good game. Almost on point with PUBG.

[ClanPsi1]

The VP of BlueHole is Chinese? Jesus, no wonder.

[spaceb0y]

Fortnite has it's share of problems. On a positive note, the devs seem like a hard-working bunch so the future does look good.

[SoulWarrior]

PUBG fans here showing they are just as butthurt and salty as the devs about the success of Fortnite.