Fortnite has been one of the most widely and consistently successful games in the industry for years at this point, and the final months of 2023 in particular were exceptionally strong for the free-to-play shooter, which ended the year on a strong note with how it performed throughout December.
As per a report published by Ampere Analysis, Fortnite saw collective playtime of over 1.6 billion hours on PlayStation and Xbox consoles during December. That’s up 9% from what the game managed in November, which itself was up 146% from October.
In fact, Fortnite’s total playtime on consoles in December was higher than the time players put into Grand Theft Auto 5 and Online, Call of Duty HQ (which includes Modern Warfare 2, Modern Warfare 3, and Warzone), EA Sports FC 24, and Roblox put together. Fortnite’s performance in December saw Epic Games becoming the leading publisher for the month across PlayStation and Xbox in terms of monthly active users, surpassing EA.
In addition to the expected surge of the Holiday season, Fortnite’s boost in December can also be attributed to the launch of three entire games that were released within the shooter in the form of LEGO Fortnite, Rocket Racing, and Fortnite Festival. The continued popularity of Fortnite OG is also sure to have helped.