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

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

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
Patrick Hearn
Patrick Hearn writes about smart home technology like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, smart light bulbs, and more. If it's a…
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