Fortnite overtakes Apex Legends, returns to #1 on Twitch

Fortnite is back to where it started: the #1 game on Twitch. According to the Twitch Tracker website, Epic Games’ Battle Royale game has grown over the past 7 days, surpassing Respawn’s Apex Legends, which has held the No. 1 spot since it launched in early February.

Fortnite isn’t much different, but it does outperform Apex Legends in its peak, average viewership, watch time, and streams. Fortnite’s IEM Katowice tournament boosted viewership, peaking at 47,645 viewers and totaling 664k watch hours in just two days.

Apex Legends dropped to No. 2. Since this game set many Twitch records in Twitch Rivals with 8.2 million hours of viewing, the Apex Legends craze has somewhat subsided. The game is still having impressive numbers, averaging 110-120 thousand viewers, but the downward momentum is gradually showing.

With an average of 46,000 viewers in March, Michael “shroud” Grzesiek continues to be Apex’s top streamer, accounting for almost half of the viewership. That raises the question of what would happen if the former CSGO player decided to change the game?

If Fortnite and Epic Games are able to continue at this pace throughout March, the gap is sure to widen next month. In mid-April, the journey to the Fortnite World Cup will begin with weekly $1 million tournaments.

There is too little data to confirm which game has won the battle royale race, because Apex Legends is only 1 month old. One thing’s for sure, though, is that Respawn has to do something new – maybe another Twitch Rival event if it wants Apex Legends to return to the top 1 on Twitch.