Fortnite exceeds 8.3 million concurrent players

It's no secret that Fortnite is a monster, but because it's not on Steam it's impossible to say exactly how monstrous it really is, as Epic generally doesn't share those numbers. Epic Games Korea CEO Sung Chul Park recently did, however, telling Korean site Inven that the game has exceeded 8.3 million concurrent players. 

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The report doesn't get into specifics like when the peak was hit or how long it held, but it's such a ridiculous figure that it almost doesn't matter—especially considering that Fortnite only ("only") hit 3.4 million concurrents in February, when it surpassed PUBG's then-huge peak concurrent player record of 3.2 million, set in January.

And consider this: SteamDB indicates that there are currently 13.2 million concurrent users across all of Steam (though it peaks much higher at times), meaning that if Fortnite's growth continues along the same curve, there may soon be times when there are more people playing it simultaneously than there are on Steam—the whole damn platform. That is bizzonkers

The original interview is in Korean and Google Translate is an ill-tempered beast, but an Epic rep confirmed that the figure is accurate.   

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.