Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Art’s Apex Legends may be the new hot battle royale game on the block, but will it ever be able to dethrone Fortnite as the king of not only the genre, but of video games right now? Well, the world’s most popular streamer, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins — who made a name for himself streaming Epic Games’ title — doesn’t think so.
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Recently, while streaming some Apex Legends, Ninja was asked whether the impressive new effort from the Titanfall devs will be able to overtake Fortnite. Replying, Ninja admitted any game can, but that’s “nearly impossible” any game will.
“I mean I think any game has the chance to go over Fortnite, but it’s going to be nearly impossible,” said Blevins. “But this game specifically….it’s anyone’s best guess at this point.
“I think it’s going to be nearly impossible for anyone to do what Fortnite has done, and what they continue to do day-in and day-out and update their game.”
So, is Ninja right? Yeah, I think so. To date, Fortnite has been played by over 130 million players. And while Apex Legends has raced to 10 million players in three days, to get anywhere near 100 million, let alone 130 million and counting, is virtually unheard of, and is especially difficult in a post-Fortnite climate.
Further, Fortnite became a cultural phenomenon unlike basically any game before it, bar maybe Pokemon Go. The chance Apex Legends makes similar headway in the more mainstream is very unlikely, and as a result, I think it will be difficult to leapfrog the game anytime soon. Everyone knows what Fortnite is — that’s super rare for a video game.
Anyway, at this point all we can do is spitball. Apex Legends looks like it will climb the ladder and be one of the biggest games in the industry soon, but being one of the biggest games in the industry and being bigger than Fortnite are two very, very different things.
Anyway, as always, feel free to leave a comment letting us know what you think. Will Apex Legends dethrone Fortnite or only temporarily steal the battle royale spotlight?
