Fortnite celebrates its “biggest day” in history with over 44 million players thanks to the return of the chapter 1 map
Victory royale
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Fortnitesmashed its all-time player records on Saturday (November 4) following the launch of the nostalgicFortniteOGseason, which has brought the classic Chapter One map back to the battle royale.
In a tweet posted by the officialFortniteaccount yesterday (November 5), the team thanked players new and old for their support, noting that it’s “blown away” by the response. It wrote: “Way to start things off with a big bang. We’re blown away by the response toFortnite OG. Yesterday was the biggest day inFortnite’s history with over 44.7 MILLION players jumping in and 102 MILLION hours of play. To allFortniteplayers, OG and new, THANK YOU!”
Way to start things off with a big bang 💥We’re blown away by the response to #FortniteOG. Yesterday was the biggest day in Fortnite’s history with over 44.7 MILLION players jumping in and 102 MILLION hours of play.To all Fortnite players, OG and new, THANK YOU!November 5, 2023
It’s also thought that thelaunch ofFortnite OGon Friday(3 November) contributed to media and telecommunications company Virgin Media O2 having its busiest ever day for broadband data downloaded on its network, at almost 154,000 Terabytes (TB) of data downloaded over the course of the day. The previous record was approximately 140,000TB on Sunday, April 16.
For those unfamiliar, the latest season ofFortnitehas made the in-game map return to how it was in Chapter One, Season Five in 2018. Fan-favorite points of interest (POIs) like Tilted Towers and Risky Reels are back, as well as the weapons and items that were in the game at the time, like Boogie Bombs and Shopping Carts.
However, over the coming weeks, things will change around even more, with different things being brought into the loot pool to reflect later seasons inFortniteChapter One, like the X-4 Stormwing plane, Jetpack, The Baller, and Junk Rift. Fans can expect the next update on November 9 to add a bunch of Season Six weapons.
This blast from the past washinted at in the lastFortniteseason, with a time machine added into the game which displayed the date “June 12, 2018” - the day that Chapter One Season Five originally began. Decorations from the classic season also began to appear around the map, suggesting that something was brewing.
It’s not clear if any of these classic map elements will be kept in the next season, but for now, as the record shows, players are clearly making the most out of this classic map.
Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.
Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.
If you’re on the lookout for more fantastic games to play, be sure to have a look at ourBlack Friday video game dealsroundup for some early discounts. You can find even more in ourBlack Friday PS5 dealsandBlack Friday Xbox Series X deals, too.
Catherine is a News Writer for TechRadar Gaming. Armed with a journalism degree from The University of Sheffield, she was sucked into the games media industry after spending far too much time on her university newspaper writing about Pokémon and cool indie games, and realising that was a very cool job, actually. She previously spent 19 months working at GAMINGbible as a full-time journalist. She loves all things Nintendo, and will never stop talking about Xenoblade Chronicles.
The PS5 Pro’s PSSR upscaling gives multiple games a huge visual upgrade – can it compete with Nvidia’s DLSS 3 successor?
I’m a Nintendo Switch expert, here are the best early Black Friday deals right now
Philips Hue vs Govee: choose the right smart lights for you
