Marshmello Fortnite concert most attended in history

More than ten million people are believed to have attended electronic dance music star Marshmello’s virtual concert in the popular free-to-play video game Fortnite this weekend.

The online shooter hosted its first in-game concert on Saturday. Electronic music producer and DJ, Marshmello, performed live to a concurrent player-base of over ten million people, according to gaming journalist Geoff Keighley.

The number of players that tuned in for Marshmello’s set breaks records for the popular online game, far surpassing Fortnite’s previous concurrent player record of 8.3 million. This number does not include those who watched the performance by proxy on Twitch streams, or attended Marshmello’s encore show at 2am ET (7am GMT).

Players attended the virtual concert in Pleasant Park, a suburban area on the Fortnite Battle Royale map. Weapons functions were disabled, as in-game avatars danced before a large stage to Marshmello’s ten-minute set.

Far From Alone: Sources are telling me there were more than *10 million concurrent players* watching the @marshmellomusic concert in @FortniteGame today – on top of the millions watching online. What a moment for gaming! pic.twitter.com/fkrPNjSC9I

— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) February 3, 2019

Marshmello has launched a special edition Fortnite merchandise collection, selling hoodies (US$55), shirts ($36) and t shirts ($30). The extended version of the DJ’s Fortnite set is available exclusively on Apple music.

“We made history today! The first ever live virtual concert inside of Fortnite with millions of people in attendance. So insane, thank you epic games and everyone who made this possible,” tweeted Marshmello after the event.

The Marshmello x Fortnite concert is not the first in-game live music event, but surpasses previous events in terms of scale, granting more exposure to the artist, game and concept of virtual live music events.

Fortnite launched in 2017 and now boasts over 200 million total players. Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite, recorded an annual turnover of $2.4 billion in 2018. A $1.25 billion investment by private equity firm KKR in October led to a valuation of nearly $15 billion for the gaming company.

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