Apex Legends, the new free-to-play battle royale from Respawn, has taken the gaming world by storm this week. Not only has it reached over 25 million players, but it’s smashing Twitch viewing records day by day.
Yesterday, Incolas, founder of livestream data website Gamoloco, tweeted that fans watched more than 7 million hours of Apex Legends in a single day, a total achieved only by Fortnite, who managed it once, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
As if that wasn’t enough, just a day later, the game has smashed even more records with over 8 million people watching it.
In some ways, the news doesn’t come as a huge surprise to frequent Twitch viewers. Since its release, Apex Legends has dominated Twitch, sitting almost permanently at the top of the platform’s Top Games list. Even when it’s dropped from the top spot, it’s still comfortably on the top row, earning itself a place beside, and often ahead of, battle royale phenomenon Fortnite.
It seems everyone wants to try out the latest entry into the free-to-play battle royale genre and it shows in the impressive viewing figures.
Eight million hours is a ridiculous amount of time and equates to over 900 years.
The boost to figures overnight may also have been due to the fact that the first Apex Legends tournament took place yesterday, with well known streamers including Ninja, Shroud, and DrDisrespect, facing off for supremacy.
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The only game to equal this impressive total is Counter Strike: Global Offensive; which has achieved the milestone several times, mostly thanks to major esports competitions for the game being shown on Twitch.
You can see a breakdown of the full figures from Gamoloco in the chart below.
Apex Legends really has come from nowhere and is now everywhere. Even Twitch legend Ninja, famous for playing Fortnite, has been streaming Apex Legends this week, with his streams picking up as many as 156,000 views.
Whether the game can continue its rise to phenomenon status remains to be seen. One thing is for sure though: the impact of the title is incredible. Other studios need to take note. Apex Legends is a game to watch.
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