Fortnite passes 7 million players thanks to Battle Royale mode

Fortnite made waves the other week after using PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds to market its own Battle Royale mode. The PUBG developers lashed out at Epic Games, which has become a lot more understandable now that its new Battle Royale mode has pushed Fortnite past 7 million players.

The official Fortnite Twitter sent out a tweet to thank fans for helping the game reach over 7 million players by launching Duos and new Supply Drops. It was unclear as to whether the tweet was referring to concurrent or total players, but it still spells success for the young game.

Further concern for PUBG comes in that Fortnite has already reached consoles, which Battlegrounds has yet to do as a PC exclusive. It plans to release on Xbox One later this year while still in talks with Sony about the possibility of a PlayStation 4 launch, but Epic Games could have already dented its potential player base with its own free-to-play standalone Battle Royale mode available on both platforms.

Thanks to over 7 million of you who have played Fortnite! We want to keep the Battle Bus flying, so Duos and Supply Drops are available NOW. pic.twitter.com/sRx767u4aG

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) October 4, 2017

PUBG Corp and Bluehole’s backlash isn’t concerning another entry into the battle royale genre, however, but the fact that Battlegrounds runs off of Epic Games’ in-house engine. This gives the Fortnite developer easy access to data that shouldn’t be in the hands of competition and causes unrest that the information could be used to harm the growth of PUBG.

While the modes are similar, the games do play vastly different with Fortnite taking an over the top approach and PUBG cementing itself as a semi-realistic survival shooter. Epic Games realises these differences, wishing to “provide a competitive experience without losing our unique playstyle and crazy over-the-top moments that Fortnite Battle Royale brings to the table. We look forward to your help as we continue to hone the experience.”

KitGuru Says: I do believe that the more competition there is, the better the games will have to get to stand out from the crowd. It’s healthy for the industry, despite oversaturation. That being said, I can understand that PUBG Corp is now going to have to worry about foul play. Have you been playing PUBG or Fortnite?

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