Apex Legends is giving Fortnite a serious run for its money. Just weeks on since it’s launch, the emerging battle royale title has already began to knock Fortnite off of its perch.
The title, which is set in Electronic Arts’ Titanfall universe, has taken the top spot for hours watched in a single day on video game streaming platform Twitch. More than 8.2 million hours of Apex Legend content was watched on the platform on Tuesday, 12 February, according to The Esports Observer. That beats the previous record which had been held by Fortnite since July 2018, which stood at 6.6 million.
For the week from February 4-10, some 31.7 million hours of Apex Legends was consumed by Twitch users. That made it the most viewed game of the week, well ahead of second placed League of Legends (20.5 million) and Fortnite (13.2 million).
Tuesday was a particularly successful day as Apex Legends launched into esports. That impressive figure is a result of the Twitch Rivals tournament which featured a number of high-profile streamers. Those involved included Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek, Jaryd “Summit1G” Lazar, and Tyler “Ninja” Blevins.
Which Ninja sits top of the pile for followers on Twitch, it was actually Shroud who most helped Apex Legends to the record. He alone accounted for 1.1 million hours of viewership. Ninja trailed him, having generated just short of 600,000 hours of watched content.
Apex Legends Twitch record: Is this the new Fortnite?
It’s early days for what is the latest attempt to steal Fortnite’s crown. However, the hype that Electronic Arts’ latest release has caused brings back memories of the launch of Epic’s hit title.
Having launched on February 4, Apex Legends has already attracted more than 25 million players, and with an army of high-profile streamers getting behind it, it certainly has the potential to topple a previously-invincible Fortnite.