Fortnite: Battle Royale is currently losing viewers and streamed hours on Twitch. But while the battle royale game is declining, another game is gaining: Minecraft!
What’s happening on Twitch right now? Fortnite is currently experiencing losses on Twitch according to the analytics site Sullygnome. Looking at the numbers from the last 14 days (as of August 24, 2019), the following figures stand out:
- Hours viewed dropped by 21.5 percent, which is over 10 million hours!
- Hours streamed by broadcasters were reduced by 15.9 percent, which corresponds to over 450,000 hours.
- Average viewers also decreased by 21.5 percent, which is over 32,000 viewers.
Is Fortnite done for? Not at all, the game still has over 39 million hours viewed during this time, and the numbers are impressive otherwise. However, the losses are noticeable. What could be the reason for this?
Mech controversy leads to player migration
The following could be behind the declining numbers: Fluctuations on Twitch are normal, but at the current scale there could be specific reasons. One of them is certainly the Mech. The new vehicle introduced with Season 10 has divided the player base from hour 1.
While casual players and newcomers find the device great since they can achieve success easily and without much effort, dedicated players and professionals despise it intensely. Because the Mech often decides between victory and defeat. Skill with weapons and building skills become almost irrelevant.
That Epic even defended the Mech by calling it a valuable feature for the success experiences of noobs has only added more fuel to the fire. Professional players feel marginalized and not taken seriously by the developer.
As a result, some notable players have temporarily turned their backs on Fortnite and turned to other games. TimTheTatman has been playing more Overwatch again, and CouRage, who quit a $400,000 tournament because of the Mech, can now be found more often in Minecraft.
Minecraft is a big winner on Twitch right now
What’s happening with Minecraft: Curiously, the numbers for Sullygnome for Minecraft on Twitch have been growing significantly in the last 2 weeks. They even move in a similar percentage range as the losses from Fortnite.
In total, Minecraft gained over 3 million hours of viewer time, which corresponds to an increase of 26.3 percent. There were also over 40,000 more hours of content streamed, and almost 10,000 viewers joined.
This certainly does not solely consist of ex-Fortnite fans, but since the target audience of children and teenagers for Fortnite and Minecraft is quite similar, transitions from Fortnite to Minecraft on Twitch are definitely conceivable.
When defaults decide to switch games… from r/FortNiteBR
A fan video on Reddit, in which the Fortnite mascot Jonesy escapes from a Mech through a magical door, lands in the Minecraft world, and there (at least temporarily) is happy, states what many players think: “Fortnite isn’t fun right now, but Minecraft is!”
Which other game is doing well? Another winner on Twitch is the MOBA DotA 2, which gained 31 million viewed hours in the last 2 weeks. However, this is likely less due to Fortnite than the big tournament “The International”.
In the battle royale sector, Apex Legends was able to increase by over 46,000 streamed hours in the last 2 weeks. Here too, migration from Fortnite is to be expected.
This is how things could develop
Will the streamers come back? So far Epic has indeed nerfed the Mech hard despite earlier claims. However, it remains in the game, and many players are still angry that it got that far.
Therefore, the waves are far from calmed. Additionally, the multiplayer alpha for Modern Warfare is currently ongoing, and WoW: Classic is also just around the corner. Some streamers, like TimTheTatman, are eagerly waiting for it. His channel is currently “An official WoW: Classic waiting room”.
The future is certainly uncertain, but if the current mood continues, Fortnite is unlikely to recover from the losses anytime soon.
Our title image comes from the FortniteXMinecraft video from Reddit.
