The Gaming section of YouTube Live has established new records for the number of viewers and active channels at its peak. This occurred during the finale of Fortnite's 27th season, which concluded with The Big Bang event and a virtual concert by Eminem.
Developers made several intriguing announcements during The Big Bang event about the future of the battle royale game. This attracted the attention not only of regular players but also top streamers, who began queuing for game servers several hours before the start. Thanks to The Big Bang, the total number of viewers in the Gaming section on YouTube Live surged to a record-breaking 4.2 million people. The number of simultaneously active channels at its peak reached 2710, marking the section's best performance to date.
The most popular Fortnite streams on YouTube Gaming on the day of the live event
Many streamers who broadcasted The Big Bang live event set peak viewership records on their YouTube channels. Among them: LazarBeam, Nick Eh 30, Ninja, TheGrefg, TimTheTatman, and other celebrities.
On December 2nd, the game also set a record for the number of players in a day — 11.6 million people. Recall that earlier in November, the battle royale broke the record for the most players in a month — just over 100 million. This was due to the hype surrounding the Fortnite OG season, during which developers reintroduced the game's original map.
The finale of the game's most popular season also boosted its stats on Twitch. The Big Bang event attracted over 3 million peak viewers, streaming across 147,000 channels simultaneously. Thanks to Fortnite's community activity on Twitch, the platform set a new record for peak online of the year: 6.193 million viewers. This is just 20,000 viewers more than during the La Velada del Año 3 boxing show tournament by Spanish streamer ibai.
The 28th season of Fortnite has been titled Underground. Developers introduced weapon modification capabilities into the game, unique skins like Metal Gear's Solid Snake and Peter Griffin from Family Guy, and three new standalone game modes: LEGO Fortnite, Rocket Racing, and Fortnite Festival.
LEGO Fortnite is similar to Minecraft but with the Fortnite style and LEGO construction. Players will construct various objects in expansive gaming worlds, gather resources, engage in crafting, and more. Rocket Racing offers arcade-style races from the creators of Rocket League. The first trailer will be unveiled on December 8th at The Game Awards 2023. Fortnite Festival is a rhythm game from the creators of the popular Guitar Hero and Rock Band series. Players can enjoy it solo or with friends, performing popular hits from renowned musicians. The Weeknd will be the first featured artist.
These game modes will be available for free to all players across all platforms. The release of these modes is expected by December 10th.
