Has Apex Legends become a bigger esport than Fortnite?

With ALGS Open New Orleans on the horizon, Apex Legends is shaping up to be one of the top esports games of 2025 so far.

It’s becoming a close competitor to Fortnite, and the numbers show the hero shooter has the potential to surpass one of the most popular games in the esports scene.

Esports Charts recently published its rankings of the top competitive games in the esports scene. In it, Apex Legends ranked higher than Fortnite despite hosting fewer events so far.

Apex Legends, currently ranked sixth, has hosted two events in the 2025 season: ALGS 2024 Championships and 13YOG x Redragon League grand finals. It’s reached a prize pool of over $2m and a peak viewership of over 540,000.

Fortnite, currently ranked seventh, has reached similar numbers with nearly 30 events hosted so far this season. Its most popular event is the Fortnite Champion Series (FNCS) 2025 majors, reaching a peak of 480,000 in Europe. It also offered a total prize pool of $2.3m so far.

Despite funding cuts to accommodation, publisher EA has been looking to expand the Apex Legends esports scene by inviting more teams globally. ALGS Open, taking place between May 1 to May 4, 2024, will feature 160 teams competing for a $1 million prize pool.

Apex Legends’ recent performance is a sign of what could be a major turning point between the two games. In the past Fortnite has seen more success overall in the esports scene compared to Apex Legends, but could 2025 be different?

Despite the surge in popularity for Apex Legends, it’s still very early days to consider whether it has surpassed Fortnite yet.

While not its best year, Fortnite dwarfed Apex Legends in every category during 2024. It saw by far the most amount of events at over 370 tournaments.

Last year, it offered a total prize pool of $12.8m, and saw a peak viewership of over 800,00 during the FNCS 2024 Global Championship.

Both games are set to feature in this year’s Esports World Cup, which will feature the largest esports organisations in the world. Last year’s event saw Fortnite as the more popular title, with an average of over 25,000 viewers and peak of nearly 73,000.

With ALGS Year 5 setting up to be the biggest yet, fans will have to wait and see if Apex Legends will come out on top this time around.