Roblox VS Fortnite in numbers - which one is at the top in 2023?
Two video game lords battle it out
Roblox and Fortnite are two of the most popular games on the planet. Roblox is a game where you create a block-like character and take place in many different community-built mini-games. It's been around since 2006 and went quiet for years before seeing a whopping resurgence in recent years making it a heavy hitter in the gaming world.
Fortnite is the battle royale game that took the world by storm back in 2017 and has since seen very steady success as one of the biggest games on earth. Known for its elements of crafting forts while you survive a battlefield filled with 100 players, the goal is simply to be the last player standing. Thanks to a combination of being free (like Roblox) and popular content creators and streamers making content for the game, its popularity soared to unreal heights.
Although both games are quite different, they both have their similarities such as the community creation factor for example. Another thing is that both games are essentially on every platform you can think of - mobile, console, and PC. Roblox isn't currently on PlayStation but it is on Xbox.
But with both of these games so red hot in the gaming industry, how do they stack up statistically? Both games are arguably at their peaks, so it's fun to go and compare the two.
Roblox VS Fortnite Total Users
- Roblox users
Find more statistics at Statista
- Fortnite users
In gaming, there's nothing more important than the gamer and the community. The amount of users a game has is a good estimate of how truly popular it is. Starting with Fortnite, as we mentioned, it became one of the biggest phenomena in not only gaming but in pop culture since its inception in 2017.
According to Business of Apps, the battle royale has over 400 million registered users as of 2022 and there's a good chance that number has risen now. The game has seen 83 million active monthly users as well with 2022 being its peak.
As for Roblox, the longtime game has a massive 202 million active monthly active users according to Backlinko. On top of this, the game sees 46 million players on a daily basis. This, in big part, could be due to the fact that there are over 40 million games to play in the Roblox universe.
Roblox VS Fortnite Revenue
Making money is the dream of anyone in any business and that's no different with gaming. Earning great sums of revenue allows you to gather more resources to help better your games and it allows you to hire more employees to help grow your company.
For Fortnite, the growth in revenue has been steady and continues to rise. The game generated $6+ billion in 2022, which was a record. The second highest was $5.4 billion in 2018 while 2020 netted $5.4 billion in revenue. Interestingly enough, 2019 saw an unusual dip, as the game made $3.7 billion that year. All-time, Fortnite has earned $1.8 billion on mobile.
Roblox made $2.225 billion in 2022, which was a 15.94% increase from 2021, but still pales in comparison with the 107.73% jump that skyrocketed it in 2020, In 2022, it already looks like it is well on its way to surpassing that mark as well.
Roblox VS Fortnite Engagement
Find more statistics at Statista
The word "engagement" is a powerful one when you're trying to grow the popularity of a video game. This is all about how much time players spend on a game. If your game is so good to the point where players are sticking around for periods of time, then well, you have a banger of a product. Congratulations!
With that said, let's compare Roblox and Fortnite's key engagement numbers, starting with the former. By the end of 2021, Roblox had over 10.8 billion hours of playtime by gamers. Since then, that number has jumped up to a whopping 11.8 billion. Keep in mind that this is just from Q4 of 2021 to Q1 of 2022, which is remarkable. Part of the success could be due to the fact that Roblox is a game that's filled with other games too.
In the first quarter of 2023, Roblox has seen an even bigger spike, reaching a whopping 14,493 million hours of playtime. That's the highest number to this day, which sets the game for a successful year ahead.Fortnite also was strong on the engagement side, with 34% of its players putting six to ten hours per week into the game according to Soocial. There was a small chunk of that percentage at 5% who played the popular game for more than 21 hours per week.
Roblox VS Fortnite Time Watched and Views
In today's gaming world, one of the most popular ways to consume video games is by watching content around that game. Whether it's on YouTube, Twitch, Facebook Gaming, or Trovo, many people enjoy their gaming experience this way when they aren't playing themselves. Fortnite and Roblox are among the most popular games when it comes to watching videos and streams.
Find more statistics at Statista
Fortnite was once the most watched game on Twitch back in 2020 with 1.6 billion hours watched. That number has dipped, but still, the battle royale brought in 1.1 billion hours in 2021 across all streaming platforms. It still remains one of the top games on these platforms.
As can be seen in the graph above, the game has seen increases and declines, with the last months of 2022 being the lowest. In 2023, it started picking up again.
Roblox brings in around 800,000 hours watched each week on Twitch, making it 9.6 million hours during the year. On YouTube, the mini-game-filled app amassed over 140 million total views in 2021, which was almost a 40-million view jump from 2020.
Credit: Streamscharts
Roblox VS Fortnite Age Demographics
Gaming is one of the biggest communities in the world with billions of people playing games. With so many gamers out there, you can definitely see a unique mixture of ages playing their favourite games. This is what we're tackling next with our comparison.
Starting with Fortnite, over 60% of its players are between the ages of 18-24 while 22% are between 25 and 34 years old. As Business of Apps suggests, it's possible that the percentage of the 18-24-year-olds may be even younger, as some may fake their age to get access to online play.
Interestingly enough, Roblox has a unique mix of ages within their demographics. Ages 9-12 lead the way with 29% of the player base. This is followed by players who are under nine years old with 25%, making these the only two age groups above the 20% mark. 17-24 is next up at the plate with 16% of the Roblox community along with 25 or over at 14%. One interesting note is that ages 13-16 made up the lowest percentage at 13%. So it seems like gamers play it at a young age, stop during their high school years and then pick it back up again into their adult years.
Gender Demographics
As we mentioned with age, there are a ton (and I mean a ton) of gamers in the world, whether you play on mobile, console, or PC. And because of that, you'll see a great mixture of genders enjoying this grand activity we call video games and that includes Roblox and Fortnite.
Since 2016, Roblox has seen a very balanced group when it comes to males and females. Males make up 51% of the gameplay while females land at 45%. At 5%, we see "unknown" which is for people who identify as a gender outside of male and female or just prefer not to answer.
For Fortnite, it's a lot more one-sided, with 89% of players being male versus 10% being female. This is as of 2022. Interestingly, this number has increased since the iOS ban implying that more females preferred playing the mobile version of Fortnite instead of console or PC.
Roblox VS Fortnite Platform Stats
Gaming is more accessible than ever thanks to the many platforms we can play on. From mobile to PC to console, there's something for everyone. You can game at home or on the move since there are so many devices out there.
Roblox had over 72% of players enjoy the game on mobile. This dominates both PC and console, which received 25% and 3% respectively.
As for Fortnite, the PlayStation 4 was the most popular platform for gamers at 42% while Xbox One players made up 35% of the player base and 13% of the group were PC players. Mobile rounded things out at around 9%. Keep in mind that the iOS ban might be keeping that percentage lower.
Conclusion
Overall, it's quite tough to see if either Roblox or Fortnite is the top game. Roblox has much more monthly activity than Fortnite does, which is a huge point for Roblox. However, Fortnite does check other boxes such as having over 350 million registered users overall and making more money. Another thing that goes in Fortnite's favour is that it's among the most watched games ever on Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook.Roblox does have another impressive number on its sleeve that may give it an edge, and that's the nearly 12 billion hours of playtime. Between this and the aforementioned monthly active users of over 200 million, Roblox's engagement numbers are through the roof. However, factoring in things like watch time and revenue, Fortnite may have the edge in this fascinating battle of two gaming titans.
