Fortnite's Concurrent Player Count Hits 8.3 Million

Don't let the passage of time fool you – Fortnite: Battle Royale has been out for over a year now, but the game is still growing like nobody's business. And now Epic has a brand new number to tout when it comes to concurrent players worldwide: 8.3 million, up from 3.4 million back in February.

The news, reported by GamesIndustry.biz, comes on the heels of Fortnite launching in South Korea this week. And it paints a very interesting picture about where Fortnite stands in the grand scheme of online multiplayer games. Sure, there will be other challengers to the battle royale throne, such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's Blackout mode, and the eventual release of Battlefield 5's spin on battle royale. And PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds will keep trying to regain the top spot, and could be aided by a rumored PS4 launch.

But make no mistake about it: Fortnite is a phenomenon. People around the world are itching to play it, and the more Epic does to push the game into new markets, the more that concurrent player count will rise.

Fortnite, as the current "it" game, also has the benefit of striking interesting partnerships with other brands, furthering its reach. The game is rolling out NFL skins as part of a deal with that league, and just a few months ago, Fortnite also worked with Marvel on a cross-over to promote Avengers: Infinity War.

It's been fascinating to watch the meteoric rise of Fortnite, particularly Fortnite: Battle Royale, from where it started near the end of last summer. What was once knocked as little more than a PUBG clone and a cash grab is now one of the most influential properties in video games. That concurrent player count of 8.3 million is nothing to scoff at. It's enough people to eclipse the populations of 38 states in the U.S. And that's just the number of people playing at the same time. Imagine how many people play in total.

We'll undoubtedly be hearing more about this Fortnite game in the future.