Fortnite Celebrity Pro-Am viewership on Twitch is down greatly, 72% to be exact, when compared to last year’s viewership at the event, leading many to wonder what the future of competitive Fortnite looks like.
The first Fortnite Celebrity Pro-Am held at E3 2018 was a huge success for Epic Games as the event was able to bring 1.5 million viewers on just Twitch alone.
This was when Fortnite popularity was at an arguably all-time high for viewers and was in the midst of Tyler ‘Ninja‘ Blevins record-breaking growth on Twitch.
Ninja and his partner EDM artist Marshmello, who was not at this year’s event, came away with the victory. However, things played out much different this year.
Fortnite has since begun to cool off on Twitch, something that’s to be expected as a game ages and newer things come out. Epic’s battle royale title is still usually a top game on Twitch so it’s not like it has fallen off completely, but viewership is down.
While the first Pro-Am brought in 1.5 million viewers, that number peaked at 427,000 this year, not even one-third of the viewership, according to GitHyp.
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What happened?
A variety of factors come into play, with one of the main ones being Fortnite’s popularity isn’t at the same level as it was a year ago.
Another factor could be that the competitive scene has shifted so much and it might not result in a pleasant viewing experience anymore. Fortnite pro Airwaks came home with the trophy this time around, someone who doesn’t nearly have the same sort of popularity as Ninja does, who came in 19th.
Fortnite is still working to prove itself as an esport and with a shifting meta seemingly every week, it has resulted in a bumpy experience with many pros blasting what has been happening to the game.
This could just be a minor bump in the road but if viewership remains low for the World Cup in New York City then Epic Games might have a problem on their hands.