Fortnite, the game that has taken the world by storm and turned Epic Games into a multibillion-dollar company, has seen its first decline of active streamers since the Battle Royale mode launched. While this certainly doesn't spell the end of the free-to-play titleit does seem to indicate that popularity surrounding the release may finally be cooling down.

The number of streamers playing Fortnite decreased by 5% from 2.37 million in Q3 to 2.25 million in Q4. Despite the decrease in active streamers, the total amount of live streamed Fortnite content stayed the same at roughly 19 million hours in both quarters, which equates to about 2,168 years worth of content per quarter.

This decrease may seem small, especially due to the amount of streamed content remaining the same, but it could be taken as a sign that players are finally moving on to other big name titles. Red Dead Redemption 2 even got its own Battle Royale mode today, which may draw some more console players away.

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Fortnite wasn't the only Battle Royale game to see a decline in streaming, either. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds also saw a decline in interest, though it was a bit more severe than the Epic Games titlePUBG saw a 26% decrease of in quarter over quarter live streamed content, slipping from 3.24 million hours in Q3 to 2.4 million hours in Q4.

PUBG's number of active streamers also decreased from 295K to 221K during the same time period. Undoubtedly, PUBG has struggled to retain overall interest when compared to Fortnite, which prompted PUBG Corp. to take legal action against Epic Games, though the lawsuit was later dropped.

It will be interesting to see if Fortnite continues to see a decrease in active streamers. Trends come and go, so it's only a matter of time until another game comes along to take the gaming audience by storm. Exactly what that game will be remains to be seen, as it's somewhat difficult to imagine any other title generating such a craze on the scale of Fortnite. For those still playing Fortnite, the week 6 challenges have gone live and we have a guide on how to complete them.

Fortnite is available now in early access for Android, iOS, PC, PlayStation 4, Switch, and Xbox One.

Source: Stream Labs