Apex Legends Hasn’t Slowed Down Fortnite, Says Epic Games CEO
Apex Legends came charging into the world of battle royale with an aggressive advertising strategy and a fun new take on the genre to boot, but despite its rapidly growing player-base, there is no doubt that it has quite a distance to go before it can pose a serious threat to the pop-culture phenomenon that is Fortnite. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney made as much evident in an interview with VentureBeat, even going so far as to say that EA’s new game has had no significant effect on Fortnite’s numbers whatsoever.
In fact, Sweeney claimed the game’s player-base is very near crossing the 250 million milestone. “We’re very close to hitting 250 million Fortnite players,” said Sweeney. “Since Apex Legends came out, we’ve gained an Apex Legends worth of Fortnite players, which is amazing.”
In reply to a comment on Apex Legends failing to have slowed Fortnite down, Sweeney said that Fortnite’s traction has actually peaked twice since the new class-based battle royale was released. In fact, the CEO claimed that the only game to have made a dent in Fortnite’s numbers is FIFA.
We hit a Fortnite non-event peak twice after Apex was out. We haven’t seen any visible cut into Fortnite. It’s a funny thing. The only game you can see where its peaks cut into Fortnite playtime is FIFA. It’s another game for everybody, wildly popular around the world.
Tim Sweeney, CEO Epic Games
He was quick to appreciate what Apex Legends has been able to accomplish in the short time it has been out, saying that the game may have revitalized shooters for many players.
What Apex Legends has done is re-energized a lot of shooter players, people who come in and out of shooters depending on what’s popular. It’s awesome to see other games picking up on battle royale, adding their unique spin to it and advancing the state of the industry.
Tim Sweeney, CEO Epic Games
Based on the simple fact that Fortnite has been around for much longer than Apex Legends, it should come as no surprise that the latter has a ways to go before it can boast numbers that rival that of the BR king, and it will take much more than mere time to accomplish that.
Fortnite isn’t just at the top of the battle royale genre, it has set up shop right at the top of all gaming, and for good reason. The frequency and consistency with which Epic Games has added content to the game has created a loyal player-base and its push into mainstream media has seen it referenced frequently in pop-culture.
That isn’t to say that the game is unbeatable. Apex Legends has grown at a much faster rate than Fortnite did following its debut – it currently entertains over 50 million players while it took Fortnite nearly four months to rake in the same amount. This may be what inspired Fortnite to offer a way for players to acquire its newest battle pass for free shortly after Apex Legends was launched.
Only time will tell, though, whether the new game is able to maintain its current pace and luster. What players can hope for in this competition is a rivalry that will encourage both games to evolve.
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