Fortnite Passes 7 Million Players, Amid Spat With PUBG Over Its Battle Royale Mode

Fortnite, the newly released base-building survival game with a PUBG-style Battle Royale mode, has passed a new player milestone. The game has reached 7 million players, Epic announced on Twitter. This is 7 million overall, covering the base game and the Battle Royale mode, which was released as a free download separate from the game.

Epic also announced that two new features are now available in Battle Royale: Duos and Supply Drops. As its name suggests, the Duo system lets players get into Battle Royale alongside a partner. And as for Supply Drops, these fall from the sky in random locations and at random locations. They can "the best loot you can find," but going after them could be tricky, as other players are looking to do the same.

We don't know how the 7 million figure breaks down between Fortnite's paid version and the free-to-play Battle Royale. What is clear is that Battle Royale itself started strong, reaching 1 million players on launch day. As for the base game, Epic announced in July that 500,000 people bought one of the game's paid tiers just days after it launched.

Fortnite's base game is available starting at $40 right now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC through the Founder's Pack. In 2018, the game will adopt a free-to-play business model. As for Battle Royale, the game is completely free on all platforms.

Fortnite's Battle Royale mode bears some similarities with PUBG in that it's a 100-player, Hunger Games-style, fight to the death, last-player-standing, white-knuckle experience. PUBG developer Bluehole recently responded to Epic overall Fornite: Battle Royale, calling out the similarities and threatening "action" against Epic. Nothing has come to light as of yet, it seems, though it will be interesting to see what happens in the future.