Fortnite player count sets 2024 record as new season launches, despite lengthy downtime

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2, titled Myths and Mortals was released last Friday, on March 8 2024, and although it wasn’t a smooth intro to fans, a new record was hit soon after.

In the early afternoon of the following day (March 9) a peak of 5,152,863 players was recorded via the count tracker Fortnite.gg. This marks the highest number of people in 2024 so far, with the last time the five million mark was reached being in December 2023.

Although this is a win for Fortnite creators Epic Games, the team faced substantial issues in the lead-up and in the hours after the supposed ‘launch.’

At 7:14 am, we reported the devs took to X to alert users of an ‘unexpected issue’ that resulted in the server being down. They apologized for ‘making everyone wait longer than usual to drop into Chapter 5 Season 2 of Battle Royale.’

Hey everyone, we encountered an unexpected issue during our maintenance and we need to extend downtime at least 8 additional hours.

We apologize for making everyone wait longer than usual to drop into Chapter 5 Season 2 of Battle Royale. The team is working through this as… pic.twitter.com/gsu79mGMiJ

— Fortnite Status (@FortniteStatus) March 8, 2024

In the end, the servers were down for almost an entire day. At 9 pm CT on March 10, the servers were able to be opened and the queue began.

Some players saw crashing issues and problems with texture on screen, but the majority of the problems were solved during the downtime.

On the initial launch day, a blog post was published on the Fortnite website to share more details including the unlocked locations that fans can experience like Mount Olympus, Grim Gate, The Underworld, and Brawler’s Battleground.

They go on to describe the new addition in detail, by saying “Pandora’s Box has been opened on the Fortnite Battle Royale Island, bringing Olympus to the battlefield.

“Olympian legends – including Hades and the thunder god Zeus – now rule the island in otherworldly rage. To make matters worse, they’ve brought their powers and weapons with them. Use their mythological means against them in Chapter 5 Season 2: Myths & Mortals!”

Reaction to launch of Chapter 5 Season 2

In the hours of downtime, fans of Fortnite took to X and Reddit to ask the team to be quicker.

One user said: ‘what am I gonna do with my life…’ while another said ‘ATLEAST 8 HOURS?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! I DONT WANNA BE RUDE BUT THIS IS SO UNHEARD OF WHAAAAAAAAT.’