The demand for a Battle Royale gaming experience on the consoles is high, and it could very well be said for the "Fortnite: Battle Royale" game. The game's developers Epic Games just announced that the title has reached 10 million players in just two weeks since its launch in the latter part of September.
The game has reached quite an achievement since its launch, having had one million players on it. Just a few days ago, "Fortnite: Battle Royale" had up to 3.7 million players and during its peak time, 525,000 players were on. That is quite a feat in itself, seeing as not many games could reach those numbers in two weeks.
Further tallying the numbers, players of the game have all jumped out of the Battle Bus, which is how every match starts at a total of 292.7 million times. Players have also logged in an overall 44.5 million gameplay hours, which shows how well-received the game is.
Perhaps, another reason why the game is so well-received because it is a free-to-play title at the moment. However, Epic Games has previously said that they plan to include a microtransaction system for cosmetic items which will happen at a later date. It seems that Epic Games have found themselves another commercially successful title, although it is unclear how many players will decide to stick around in the long run. Of course, that will depend on how much support Epic puts into the game.
"Fortnite: Battle Royale" has its share of controversy in the gaming community though. The developers of "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" have threatened Epic Games over the same title. "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" is often compared to "Fortnite: Battle Royale" for the references in the latter game.
Epic Games revealed in a blog post that they love Battle Royale games like "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" and the thought that "Fortnite" would make a good foundation for their own version of that kind of mode.
This led Bluehole, the game's developer, to release a statement sharing their reaction to the announcement made by Epic Games. They said that they have decided to respond to growing concerns about the similarities between the two games. Chang Han Kim, the vice president and executive producer of Bluehole, stated that they have had an ongoing relationship with Epic Games through the development of PUBG as they are the ones who made UE4, the engine they licensed for the game.
They went on to say that after listening to the feedback from the PUBG community as well as looking through the gameplay, they are concerned that "Fortnite" might be trying to copy the experience that PUBG is known for. The press release also noted that the developers of PUBG have no association to the development of "Fortnite." They also issued a threat, perhaps suggesting that Bluehole can attempt to take some legal action against Epic Games for the uncanny similarities of the game.
