Fortnite OG map event triggered "busiest ever day" for Virgin broadband

• Browse Virgin Media broadband deals

From Virgin's perspective, this was a 10 per cent rise to 154,000 Terabytes over the previous record surge of 140,000 Terabytes on 16th April 2023.

Fans revelled in the map's comeback in their droves, with Epic subsequently revealing that over 44 million players jumped into the game on the day of its update, alongside 102 million hours of play taking place.

"Way to start things off with a big bang! We're blown away by the response to FortniteOG.

"Yesterday was the biggest day in Fortnite’s history with over 44.7 MILLION players jumping in and 102 MILLION hours of play," wrote Epic (via X, formerly Twitter).

Fortnite was first released back in 2017, with unofficial Fortnite stats tracker Fortnite.gg stating that it reached 6.2 million concurrent players on 4th November 2023.

"We’ve seen over the years that gaming and its frequent and chunky updates cause record data usage on our network," said Virgin Media O2 network strategy and engineering director Paul Kells.

"This has often coincided with a Call of Duty or Warzone update, so it’s interesting to see that our customers and fans of Fortnite have all jumped back online in such large numbers."

Speculation is now mounting as to whether Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will challenge Fortnite's crown with its upcoming launch, happening on 10th November 2023.

The rumoured file size of the new CoD is 234GB, which is ironic considering fans and critics have lambasted the campaign's size in recent days.

Read more on Fortnite:

• Is Fortnite down? How to check the server status
• How to slide in Fortnite - which button is it?
• Fortnite gaming chair - price and where to buy
• Fortnite live event - when is the next one?
• Best Fortnite players - tips from the pros

Before the return of the original map, Fortnite held its latest Fortnitemares event, with lots of familiar faces from the world of pop culture appearing.

Most notably, Jack Skellington from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas showed up as a new unlockable skin, along with Alan Wake receiving his own map to celebrate the launch of Alan Wake 2.

Fortnite is currently on Chapter 4: Season OG, but this new development will surely have ramifications that will affect future updates.

Will Fortnite return to its newer maps that have engaged long-term players or revert back to the original map that has seen a large increase in newcomers and returning players?

For now, the battle royale is set to introduce Eleven from Stranger Things for a limited time period, so don't miss out!

Fortnite is available across PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.

Discover more with Fortnite creative map codes: Fortnite horror maps | Fortnite action-adventure maps | Fortnite hide and seek maps | Fortnite Zone Wars maps | Fortnite fighting maps | Fortnite parkour maps | best Fortnite creative maps | Fortnite Squid Game map codes | Fortnite Monopoly code | Fortnite I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here code | Fortnite Doctor Who map code

Listen to our One More Life podcast, subscribe to our free newsletter and follow us on Twitter for all the latest gaming intel.

Looking for something to watch? Check out our TV Guide or Streaming Guide.

Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10 – subscribe now and celebrate the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who with a special issue of Radio Times. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.