Since Fortnite’s launch in 2017, more and more free to play battle royale games have been released. Unfortunately for the newcomers, they all have paled in comparison and were soon forgotten as Fornite continued to reign supreme. This is, of course, until Apex Legends was released in February of this year.
Many saw the launch of Apex Legends as the end of Fornite’s reign; claiming that it was the only true Battle Royale contender to enter the scene since Fornite’s release. And while the initial coverage on YouTube videos would support this claim, recent numbers might suggest otherwise.
A Month-to-Month Comparison
Fornite’s battle royale mode launched in September of 2017 leading to a 466% increase in YouTube coverage growth compared to the month prior. Since then, Fornite’s month over month coverage decreased though still dominated competitors on YouTube.
As expected, the release of Apex Legends came with a surge in YouTube coverage, completely overshadowing that of Fortnite. These days, Apex Legends’ month-to-month growth continues to outshine Fortnite, but that is to be expected as it has only been a few months since launch.
Post-Launch Coverage: A Closer Look
While the above chart may give the impression that Apex Legends is in fact the Fornite ‘killer’, it’s prudent to take a closer look at the 3-months post-release of Apex Legends vs the 3-months post the introduction of Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode.
When comparing the first and second months of coverage post Apex Legends’ release vs Fortnite’s introduction of a battle royale mode, the growth rates were very similar. Though in the third month, growth for Apex Legends fell drastically.
This decrease is foreshadowing of the future battle for market share between Apex Legends and Fornite. EA’s content release schedule for Apex Legends simply cannot compare to Epic’s lightning speed pace of introducing new modes, campaigns, weapons, etc. within Fortnite. Updates like these are major factors in keeping influencers (and their audience) engaged and interested in creating content for any game.
We’re looking forward to the next major update of Apex Legends to see if it’s able to reignite the momentum that it had at launch. Only time can tell what the future has in store for EA, Epic and any other publisher brave enough to throw their hat in the game. Regardless, it’s good to not be carried away by emotions in these discussions but rather look at the data. That’s what GameInfluencer is here for — data-driven influencer marketing and market research.
