Popular battle royale game Apex Legends has taken over Twitch since its Feb 4 launch, becoming the most watched game in the week.
The game racked up 31.4 million hours watched, 10 million more than the next best Fortnite, and is the most since The International of DOTA 2 got around 35 million hours last August.
The start for Apex Legends has been nothing short of excellent, with over 10 million registered users in the span of 72 hours, and dethroning Fortnite as the most popular game. One of the main reasons of its success is the refreshing new take on Battle Royale with a few tweaks- like the way it is possible for a teammate to respawn even after dying, the hero system it has implemented with each having a unique ability and the physics of both the movement and the guns among others.
One argument against its popularity is that its hype surrounding it is only temporary; it is living in its honeymoon period if you will. One example to support that argument is COD Black Ops 4, which in its initial days surpassed Fortnite and had streamers switching to it.
The difference though, is that the hype around COD died pretty soon and it soon lost its relevance. Even at its peak, Fortnite was going strong with 20 million hours. With Apex Legends, however, it has eaten into the number of Fortnite, and even after 2 weeks, its hype is refusing to die down, suggesting that this could be the overall sentiment the community shares for the longer run.
Even popular streamers have jumped into the bandwagon, with Tyler “ninja” Blevins, arguably Fortnite’s biggest name, having not played it ever since Apex Legends’ release. Others like shroud and DrDisrespect have switched from PUBG, giving it the firepower to sustain the popularity much more than what was initially anticipated.
