Fortnite vs Apex Legends: Which Battle Royale is for you?

Fortnite and Apex Legends are two of the most successful Battle Royale titles that have enjoyed continued popularity for years. They serve as examples of how developers can excel with live service models and the battle-royale genre for the long term, although these titles have gone about it in vastly different ways.

Fortnite has become a pop culture phenomenon, including practically every character and even celebrity under the sun to form a wacky, chaotic, and varied experience for players. While Apex has its fair share of chaos, it provides a more controlled experience, but these differences haven’t stopped either game from thriving in their esports scenes.

Bearing that in mind, we’re breaking down the Fortnite vs Apex Legends debate, comparing each and scoring them out of 10 to see which emerges victorious. 

While both are shooters, Fortnite is all about third-person chaos and variety, while Apex Legends has much tighter, FPS gunplay. With Fortnite skins having such a massive impact on the community and the game itself, it isn’t as steady an experience, being better for casual fun than competitive play, even if the competitive scene is thriving.

By contrast, an Apex Legends update doesn’t shape the game as much, and this has led to a steady, strong, competitive scene revolving around tight gunplay. In some ways, Fortnite has gone for the quantity over quality approach, ever morphing, while Apex has kept to what it’s good at.

Determining which title has the better gameplay in the Apex Legends vs Fortnite debate largely depends on what a player is looking for. Fortnite’s gunplay isn’t as clean as Apex Legends, but its movement, variety, and all the items on offer mean that it’s more likely to appeal to the casual fan dipping in and out. Apex Legends requires longer-term involvement to get the most out of it.

Apex Legends will get the slight nod because its gameplay is mechanically superior, although the title with the better gameplay depends more on personal preference.

While Apex Legends has a decent number of game modes, it simply cannot compare to Fortnite. While Apex Legends largely sticks to the shooter genre, Fortnite goes so far as to change genres with some of its game modes.

Of course, there are the options of buildings, not buildings, playing survival modes, and so on, but through Fortnite update after update, players found themselves attending digital concerts, playing a Guitar Hero-esque mode, and playing an arcade racer. There are very few games that offer even half of what Fortnite does.

When it comes to game modes, Apex Legends falls short of Fortnite, but to be fair to Apex, almost everything does. Fortnite also isn’t afraid to change things up. Chapter 7 introduces ragdoll physics, which were long-rumored to arrive. Pacific Break also ditches the bus driver for a tsunami wave to ride in, cleans up the UI, and makes the reboot van drivable. We recommend reading more about the Fortnite Chapter 7 gameplay changes.  

While Fortnite characters take the quantity approach, and seem to include everyone fiction has ever created, these ‘characters’ are purely cosmetic. While many of these characters can get access to their abilities through weapons, like Huntrix’s weapons from K-Pop Demon Hunters, these don’t require the associated character to be used.

This is in direct contrast to Apex Legends characters, who have specific abilities tied to them. This means their character design needs to be more considered than a Fortnite character, which is purely cosmetic. Realistically, it’s a comparison between Apex Legends heroes and Fortnite skins. 

From a pop culture perspective, Fortnite is a clear winner, but Apex Legends is superior from a character design standpoint, simply because it has to be.

With Apex Legends Mobile, both games are practically on every platform they can be, and enjoy strong cross-platform support. While fans get an Apex Legends update as frequently as expected from a live-service game, Fortnite’s developer support has been nothing short of unbelievable. It helps that Fortnite has the full might of Epic Games behind it, and it shows through some of the most unexpected collaborations in gaming.

The Battle Royale Fortnite map changes from chapter to chapter, and every update seems to add more to it, from Power Ranger Megazords to an AI responding Darth Vader. Pair this with a seemingly endless stream of incoming skins, and it seems like Fortnite is constantly evolving due to Epic Games’ developer support. 

The Fortntie Chapter 7 Season 1 map for Pacific Break sees some huge new landmarks and additions as well. Most notably, this includes the suitably movie-themed Battlewood Boulevard (a clever spin on Tinseltown), but there are also hot air balloons, hidden underground bases, and even a movie theatre to explore and battle it out in as well. That’s to take nothing away from what Apex Legends offers across all platforms, but things don’t change anywhere near as dramatically between updates. 

There’s no denying that Fortnite is the more popular title, and that is reflected in Fortnite’s tournaments historically offering higher prize pools and having higher viewership. According to Esports Charts, Fortnite has roughly double the peak viewership and prize pool of Apex Legends, ranking 7th in viewership while Apex Legends ranks 12th.

Compared to its overall popularity, Fortnite’s esports scene is perhaps a little behind where many expect it to be, although that is likely due to its more casual appeal. Apex Legends is far less popular, yet its esports scene has continued to thrive, which should be commended, with there even being signs that Apex Legends’ esports scene could have surpassed Fortnite’s in 2025.

This hasn’t been the case, and Fortnite has remained on top, at least in the Apex Legends vs Fortnite debate.

With Fortnite scoring 42 and Apex Legends ending with 37, it’s clear that Fortnite tends to be the better option for most people. It’s more popular, enjoys better developer support, and offers players more to do. In many ways, it feels like Apex Legends has had its peak, while Fortnite is still enjoying its climax with all the mind-boggling collaborations.

Even with Apex Legends’ cross-platform options, it doesn’t really offer more than Fortnite outside of stronger gunplay. Those looking for a more traditional FPS competitive experience in their Battle Royale should look at Apex, since that is where the game shines, but Fortnite has become the game anyone can enjoy.