WITH 1 million players in under eight hours, it looks like Fortnite finally has some serious competition in the form of Apex Legends.
Announced and released last night, the latest battle royale game comes from Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind the Titanfall series.
It features 60 players fighting it out in three-man squads, with players choosing from eight distinct classes — the titular Legends — before jumping in.
It’s free to play right now on Xbox One, PS4 and PC.
Within 8 hours of its launch yesterday evening, over a million people had jumped into Apex Legends – after just one day this number had reached 2.5million.
It shot straight to the top of the Twitch charts peaking at 495,000 concurrent viewers, and two days on the game has over four times the number of viewers as Fortnite.
Players can buy new cosmetic items for their Legends, either from a Fortnite-style item shop or via loot boxes.
It’s also going to feature a battle pass system that will let players unlock other cosmetic items.
New legends are going to be added and Respawn has promised experimentation and more changes over time.
Currently, there are six to choose from and two you have to unlock over time.
Each legend has their own abilities, which come in both tactical and ultimate flavours.
Tactical abilities, such as small shields and smoke grenades, are available from the get-go and can be re-used after a certain amount of time.
Ultimate abilities, like being able to teleport or call in airstrikes, take longer to charger up but are significantly more powerful.
The launch of Apex Legends comes after a big weekend for Fortnite, with a 10-million-viewer concert from Marshmello, and a huge promotion with the NFL for the Super Bowl.
Could this be the end of Fortnite as we know it?