As the usual fall season of "huge video game releases begins and the holiday season looms, fewer people are tuning into Fortnite streams since its meteoric rise on Twitch" earlier this year, according to James Mattone of THINKNUM MEDIA. After months of streamer personalities "rushing to Fortnite and the start of the highly viewed competitive season, the game was crushing viewership." However, average concurrent viewership "plateaued -- and then began a steady decline -- right at the start of September." It is "important to note that September is the first of a four-month holiday season when top game developers release their biggest titles of the year." The decline is "not just happening on school or worknights; the overall picture of concurrent Fortnite viewership on weekends (Friday to Sunday, no holidays) shows a clear trend downward since the summer." This is "not due to an overall decline in Twitch viewership: Overall Twitch traffic has steadily increased over time with few major peaks." It can be concluded that, for now, Fortnite viewership is "starting to decline on Twitch, although content creators are still defaulting to streaming it on their channels." As Fortnite "inches closer to its physical media release in November to cash in on the holidays, recent viewership numbers do show a sign for concern." Of course, this "may not matter; even if the game's popularity plateaus in revenue, it's still on pace" to make $2B this year for Epic, a company now valued at $8B "thanks to Fortnite's success" (MEDIA.THINKNUM.com, 10/22).
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