Apex Legends hits 50 million players as it rapidly catches Fortnite

Battle royale sensation sees record growth in first month since launch

Apex Legends' record-breaking rise shows no sign of slowing down (Apex Legends)

Apex Legends has gained more than 50 million players in its first month since launching, breaking a record previously set by fellow battle royale sensation Fortnite.

The rapid rise of the new video game, which is free to download on PS4, Xbox One and PC platforms, has drawn comparisons with Fortnite due to its similar gameplay and astonishing growth.

Within one week of being released it had attracted more than 25 million players. By comparison, Fortnite took two weeks to reach the relatively modest 10 million player milestone, and more than three months to reach 50 million players.

"You pinged, you slid, you got in fights with care packages," the game's official YouTube channel announced.

"Apex Legends just hit 50 million players – check out all the amazing things that have happened in the Apex Arena, and thank you for being part of the fun!"

The growth of Apex Legends has been assisted by popular video game streamers like Ninja and DrDisrespect broadcasting live feeds of them playing it.

Fortnite remains hugely popular but the latest update to the game hinted that developer Epic Games recognises the threat posed by its rival.

Among the new updates for Season 8 was an improved way of communicating between players using a ping-like system.

Ninja even poked fun at the apparent plagiarism by pointing to some of the similarities in one of his online Twitch streams.

“What do you do when Sea of Thieves and Apex become super popular but also, Fortnite is still popular, what do you do? You take the best of both worlds.” Ninja said.

“Update your pinging system from Apex and then you add pirates from Sea of Thieves! That’s what you do.”

Fortnite currently has more than 200 million players around the world and was recently valued at $15 billion (£11.4bn).