Fortnite Has More Monthly Active Users Than GTA Online

It probably doesn’t come as a surprise, but Fortnite now has more monthly active users than GTA Online. In fact, the difference in active GTA players doesn’t even come close to the behemoth that is Fortnite.

Let’s take a look at some of the stats and then delve into the reasons why Fortnite has become so insanely popular.

Why Fortnite Has More Active Users Than GTA Online

According to Superdata’s February report, Fortnite: Battle Royale now gets more monthly active users than GTA Online across all platforms.

Fortnite has the distinct advantage that it’s free to play, but that still doesn’t change the fact that one of the highest grossing video games of all time has now been toppled from the top spot.

Grand Theft Auto 5 did sell well, but it’s the regular content releases for the GTA Online mode that has players coming back and spending more money each month. Despite GTA 5 releasing nearly 5 years ago in September 2013, the GTA Online mode has helped to keep Rockstar’s GTA franchise amongst the top grossing games in the video game industry.

Fortnite didn’t just beat the active player records for GTA Online in February this year, but according to Superata, Fortnite also beat the additional content revenue that GTA generated. Fortnite makes most of its revenue from the battle pass system – players can pay to get more quests and more rewards.

Players can also buy V-Bucks, a virtual currency to purchase cosmetic skins, emotes, and gliders.

Ultimately, these small cosmetic changes have helped to make Fortnite the second highest grossing console game in February 2018, just short of Call of Duty WWII.

What’s interesting is that this data does not seem to count the revenue that Fortnite will be making from the PC and mobile versions of the game.

If Fortnite makes its way to the Nintendo Switch then we’ll see even more growth and more revenue records broken.

Why Is Fortnite So Popular?

It’s strange to see a game receive so much popularity, so quickly. For some people, it can be quite frustrating, but even if you hate Fortnite with a passion, you should still be grateful for the benefit it is bringing to the video game industry.

Fortnite is very popular for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is the first game that has made a brand new video game genre accessible to a wide audience.

In the early 90s, we used to see many first person shooter games on the PC and on consoles, but they weren’t very accessible for a general audience. Shortly after, we saw the introduction of Call of Duty – this game managed to completely commercialize the first person shooter genre by making the game fun and accessible for all audiences.

Fortnite is now doing the same to the battle royale genre. This does two things for the industry. Firstly, it opens a new exciting gameplay experience for those that haven’t played a battle royale game before. Secondly, it creates an exciting entry into the video game world for those that have yet to pick up a video game.

Fortnite had the power to get reasonably successful on its own back, but it grew even bigger thanks to the impact it has had on popular culture and society in general.

There’s no doubt that social media has helped Fortnite to grow massively. We have platforms like YouTube and Twitch that allow people from around the world to learn about Fortnite and see gameplay. Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook serve as platforms for Fortnite content and Fortnite memes to be shared freely.

The biggest Fortnite audience are younger gamers that have grown up with services like YouTube, Instagram, and Twitch. As a result, the popularity of Fortnite has spread like wildfire.

It’s gotten to the point where if you haven’t played Fortnite, you will have least heard about it.

A similar thing happened with Minecraft, but not quite to this scale. Almost 10 years after the massive popularity of Minecraft, social media has become an even larger part of younger people’s lives. As a result, Fortnite has grown even bigger than a game has ever been before it.

The Benefits Fortnite Brings To The World Of Gaming

Because Fortnite is free, very accessible, and available on a wide variety of platforms, it’s bringing a huge new audience to video games. Many people that would have otherwise stuck to casual mobile games are now getting in on the action and getting to experience what a proper video game is like.

There have been 3D shooter games on mobile before Fortnite, but without the spotlight that social media has put on them, most games have gone unnoticed by the vast majority of smartphone users.

Fortnite is also going to do wonders for the battle royale genre. So many developers are jumping on the bandwagon right now to push out their very own battle royale games. This might not seem like a good thing at first – most new Battle Royale games look like rushed products that have been pushed out as a quick cash grab.

However, in the long term, the huge new focus on the battle royale genre can only mean one thing – more competition and more developers working to take the genre in new and exciting ways.

I personally believe that in 3 to 5 years we’ll start to see a whole new generation of open world multiplayer shooter games and it’s all because of Fortnite’s success.

We, of course, have to give credit to PUBG, as well. It was PUBG that originally saw such huge success and without that game, Fortnite: Battle Royale probably would never have come to light.

Summary

What are your thoughts on Fortnite? Do you think the popularity of Fortnite is a good thing for the video game industry, or has its success brought new negativity to gamers across the world?

I’d love to know your thoughts! If you’ve read this, visit our Facebook and let us know your opinion by leaving a comment.