04/06/2026
Yes, May 2026 was 's worst month on record - but what does that mean, and how can Epic turn things around? 🤔
May is generally a low point for the game each year, however, Fortnite's average player count has fallen 28% compared to the same time last year. Battle Royale in particular fell 34%, with Reload falling by a staggering 50%.
Full disclaimer: player numbers should not necessarily be taken as a reflection of the quality of a Season. In an IGN interview from 2023, the executive producer of Overwatch described these types of declines as a "normal ebb and flow of players" experienced often by free-to-play titles with seasonal content drops. Overwatch, in fact, struggled to find growth for years; Despite several content drops being well-received by players, many had already been turned off by Blizzard's poor decision-making prior to the launch of Overwatch 2. It wasn't until the game broke through that stigma with a colossal update earlier this year that players began to come back to Overwatch in droves.
Fortnite could be facing a similar problem. Last year's Star Wars-themed Galactic Battle, Super, and Shock 'N Awesome seasons all failed to generate any meaningful bump in player engagement, a string of failures that appear to have led to major staff changes on the Battle Royale team last fall, a controversial overhaul of Shock 'N Awesome mid-Season, and, ultimately, mass layoffs earlier this year. While the more recent Battle Royale season launches have generated a larger bump in player engagement, they've been unable to turn the tide in Epic's favor. And, of course, things like the V-Bucks price increase and mass layoffs didn't help improve sentiment around the game, either.
The reality is, it is going to take more than a single Season launch for Epic to turn things around.
Epic are likely betting that a series of major launches starting at the end of this year will help bring Fortnite back to growth. Indeed, the consecutive launches of Season OG, Chapter 5, and the Big Bang in 2023 helped triple Fortnite's average player base. The question becomes: Can Epic recapture that same magic again?
Only time will tell.