Fortnite is back on everyone's lips. Epic Games' battle royale has reclaimed its throne this weekend as one of the most played Free-to-Play titles with a peak of more than six million simultaneous users. And this record is not due to a big event, nor a massive concert like Travis Scott's in 2020. It was thanks to nostalgia.
Last week, Fortnite released Chapter 4 – Origins Season, a big update that brings old maps back to Battle Royale. The first to return, in fact, has been the original Fortnite island (the one from Chapter 1) and has attracted hundreds of thousands of players eager to remember those games they played between 2017 and 2018.
Over the last year, Fortnite has suffered several ups and downs in its number of users and has been widely surpassed by titles like Roblox. But with this return to its origins, Epic Games' Battle Royale has returned to the front line. According to the Fortnite.GG portal, dedicated to monitoring the number of players connected to Fortnite in real time, last Saturday, November 4, there was a peak of 6,172,463 simultaneous users.
This is a huge number, but it still looks bigger compared to the trend of recent months. As of last April 2023, the average number of monthly Fortnite users was around one million, with peaks of up to 2.3 million simultaneous players. And in recent days this average has risen to four million.
Following in the footsteps of the film or music sector – with remakes, sequels, sequels and even re-recordings of Taylor Swift – it is proven that nostalgia sells. Something that the video game industry itself has also confirmed repeatedly. And now it has been Epic Games' turn, they have jumped on the bandwagon and are already reaping the rewards. And it goes for a long time.
This Chapter 4 – Origins Season will last several weeks and will bring back more old Fortnite maps. But it is not limited only to the playing field. For a limited time, weapons, vehicles and items from previous seasons will also return. All updated and prepared for Unreal Engine 5.
