It only took 20 minutes for Fortnite OG to pass 1 million players

By Patrick Hearn Published December 6, 2024

Fortnite's original map appears on a blue background. — Epic Games

Fortnite OG isn’t exactly a new mode — it’s come and gone several times before. What makes today’s rollout special is that Fortnite OG is here to stay, and it’s news that has delighted a lot of fans. Players have flocked back to Fortnite to play the nostalgia-riddled modes they remember.

In fact, within a mere 20 minutes of release, Fortnite OG had more than 1 million concurrent players in regular Fortnite and another 270,000 in Zero Build, Polygon reports. For context, that’s about 1,822 times the maximum number of players Concord saw. Fortnite has always been a force of nature, but it has recently seen a surge of gamers like never before. As of right now, as we write this story, the game has 3,383,844 players, with its all-time high peak — yes, of any of the previous years — coming just five days ago with a whopping 14 million concurrent players.

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It shouldn’t be much of a surprise, though. Introducing Fortnite OG back into the playlist rotation always resulted in a surge of players, with 44.7 million fans playing throughout the course of the day. Whether the population boost will continue is anyone’s guess. Epic Games should take this opportunity to examine what players love about Fortnite OG and determine why it brings in so many people, and consider which — if any — of the more modern changes have driven older fans away.

Fortnite at recommended settings — Jon Martindale / Digital Trends

Right now, Fortnite OG has gone all the way back to the start of the game, with the original map and weapon loadout from 2017. Remember, that’s back before Tilted Towers. It consists of the following locales:

Anarchy Acres
Dusty Depot
Fatal Fields
Flush Factory
Greasy Grove
Lonely Lodge
Moisty Mire
Pleasant Park
Retail Row
Salty Springs
Tomato Town
Wailing Woods

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And as for weapons, these are just some of what will be in this game mode. Others might be on the way — Epic Games has been cryptic about what to expect.

Assault Rifle
Burst Assault Rifle
Scoped Assault Rifle
Pump Shotgun
Tactical Shotgun
Pistol
Revolver
Submachine Gun
Tactical Machine Gun
Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle
Semi-Auto Sniper Rifle
Grenade Launcher
Rocket Launcher
Damage Trap
Ceiling Zapper
Wall Dynamo

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Fortnite faces community backlash over the addition of bots in OG mode

Fortnite battle bus.

The recent launch of Fortnite OG shot the battle royale title back up the top of the charts, not that it ever really loosened the chokehold it has on the gaming community — and then the launch of the game's first-person mode further stoked the flames. One recent change is not as welcome, however. Fortnite recently shared a post on X detailing the addition of Duos mode, as well as "matchmaking improvements in all Fortnite OG playlists." That doesn't sound like a red flag ... until you read the comment section of the post.

Fortnite OG playlists just received bots, and players are taking that change about as well as they took the addition of No Build mode. In other words, it created a heck of a lot of controversy. The new bots aren't overly aggressive, and therein lies the issue: They present no challenge. Player complaints are that the bots move slowly, make decisions that get them killed, and much more, according to PCGamesN.

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Key art for Fortnite's new first person shooter mode Ballistic.

Fortnite Ballistic, the long-awaited first-person mode for Epic Games' hit battle royale shooter Fortnite, will finally come to the game on December 11.

Epic Games first teased a first-person Fortnite mode in March, but now we have a clearer idea of how it will play. Ballistic is a round-based 5v5 mode with no respawns, similar to competitive shooters like Valorant or Spectre Divide. A team of attackers fights to plant and detonate a Rift Point Device in certain spots on the map, while defenders fight to eliminate the other team before they can do the same. While attackers and defenders will swap their roles after six rounds, Ballistic matches are a best-of-seven affair across both ranked and unranked play.

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Epic Games just gave Fortnite veterans the best gift: permanent OG mode

Fortnite OG Key Art

If you're a long-time Fortnite player who can't stop asking where Tilted Towers disappeared to, this update is for you. Epic is bringing back Fortnite OG -- this time, for good. The game mode will cycle through the game's first season and let players revisit their favorite locations and loot just as they remember it from way back in 2017.

And when Epic Games says it's going back, it means all the way back. The mode will initially go through the seasons of Chapter 1, including all the loot changes and feature introductions. Think of it something like a crash course in the evolution of Fortnite; you can experience it just as players did back then and learn as you go. As a veteran of those early battle royale years, I can promise it was a vastly different experience than it is now.