The Chinese giant Tencent has revealed how many players Fortnite has had per month on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. There are 40 million in Q1 2018. Thus, the number of Fortnite players is about the same as the combined total of WoW, Hearthstone, and Overwatch.
So how many players does Fortnite really have? According to the Chinese giant Tencent, Fortnite had over 40 million active users monthly on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. This is the “MAU” (Monthly Active Users) figure that other companies like Activision also use. Players on Fortnite Mobile for iOS are not yet included here. This refers to Q1 2018. Fortnite Mobile was released afterwards.
About as many Fortnite players as Overwatch, WoW, and Hearthstone combined
Fortnite thus larger than Overwatch: In the latest financial report, Activision states that the player count for Overwatch is 30 million globally. In total, all Blizzard games have an MAU of 41 million – meaning Overwatch, Hearthstone, WoW, Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, and Heroes of the Storm. Activision has 48 million MAU with all Call of Duty and Destiny titles.
How does Tencent know this? Tencent grabbed 40% of the shares in Epic Games a few years ago. They develop Fortnite. The “Loot Llama” model for Fortnite “Save the World” is probably based on Tencent’s ideas. They are strong in the mobile games sector in China and are involved everywhere. The figures for Fortnite come from the current financial report from Tencent. By the way, they made 11.6 billion US dollars in revenue in the quarter.
Is Fortnite the largest game in the world? No, the honor still belongs to League of Legends according to these numbers. They had over 100 million active users in 2016. In 2017, they were supposed to have approximately 81 million users. Data on player counts is often tricky. In any case, League of Legends is still significantly larger than Fortnite. But League of Legends is also active in China – that greatly boosts the numbers.
Fortnite – the biggest game in the West: Already in January, Fortnite claimed to be possibly the largest game in the West. This is because games like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or League of Legends are incredibly popular in China. Fortnite is not there yet.
With China and Android, Fortnite will continue to grow
What does the future hold for Fortnite? If the iOS numbers are included, Fortnite could already have significantly more than 40 million active users per month. Events like the start of Season 4 with the comet impact caused huge waves.
There are two huge growth areas for the future:
Both are already sure and planned. There are no concrete dates yet.
Tencent has its hands everywhere: No matter how it turns out, Tencent is the big winner. They own Riot Games, the studio behind League of Legends. They have a partnership with PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and distribute the game in China. And Tencent owns 40% of the shares in Epic Games and thus in Fortnite. They also manage the China port of the shooter.
They have probably backed all the right horses.
