After blitzing the 10 million player mark after 3 days, Respawn got to announce that a whopping 25 million people had joined in the squad-based Battle Royale fun in the week since its surprise announcement and release. On top of that, they hit 2 million concurrent players which, while a way off the 10 million concurrent players Fortnite managed with an in-game concert this month, is a staggering achievement.
This game really has been a perfect storm for Respawn and EA. The immediate announce and release as a free to play game pulls on the same marketing tricks that Netflix has employed to make films like Bright so highly watched at the end of 2017, while they could speak to fans of Titanfall 2 through the developer and players of PUBG, H1Z1 and Black Ops 4’s Blackout mode with the Battle Royale gameplay. The real kicker is that many of the highest profile Fortnite streamers have also jumped on board the bandwagon and tried out the latest hot new thing, beaming the game to their loyal viewership and helping to promote it further. It would be nigh on impossible to repeat this feat.
In the meantime, Respawn emphasise that they’ve barely even got started with this game. Season One of the game starts in March with the introduction of a Battle Pass, new Legends, weapons and loot – some Valentine’s Day themed loot will be added to the game later this week, as well. They’re already pushing a more competitive side of the game with the Twitch Rivals Apex Legends Challenge that’s running tonight and next Tuesday on their Twitch channel.
