In collaboration with Betway
Fortnite players burn off the most calories per gaming session on average compared to other titles, according to a new fitness experiment.
Participants burn 194 calories on average, followed by FIFA (189) and Call of Duty (188).
This is according to findings from Betway Insider, which tasked 17 gamers to play seven of the most popular video games.
Betway asked gamers to play for 90 minutes to see which games resulted in the most calories being burnt during a gaming session, and to find out which games caused heart rates to rise the most.
Again, it was Fortnite that got gamers’ hearts pumping the most on average. See below for the full data.
Betway also said: “You’d need to do 353 squats (or 162 push ups or 239 crunches) to equal 90 minutes of playing Fortnite, making this the best gaming alternative to a workout.”
The video games that burn the most calories
Fortnite players burn the most calories per gaming session on average, with FIFA and CoD Warzone close behind.
These were followed by Apex Legends, Elden Ring, Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto (GTA), with players of the latter burning 164 calories on average per 90-minute gaming session.
In terms of the maximum number of calories burned in the study, Fortnite racked up 554 calories, while FIFA was ahead with 580 maximum calories burnt.
On average, Betway said you can burn a maximum of 538 calories per gaming session on average.
Looking at minimum calories burned, Apex Legends was the lowest with 43.
The data didn’t include other big esports titles like League of Legends, Dota 2 and CSGO, which we’re sure would changed the findings. Half a year ago, CSGO was found to be the most stress-relieving shooter, according to separate study on heart rates and blood pressure.
The video games that get your heart pumping the most
Fortnite gets hearts racing the most on average, with gamers registering 89 beats per minute (bpm) on average in this experiment.
Call of Duty: Warzone topped the maximum beats per minute chart, with gamers’ heart rates reaching a maximum 119bpm when playing that game (or 86bpm on average).
Single-player games like Elden Ring and Minecraft were the most relaxing in this list, with players having an average heart rate of 83bpm in Elden Ring and 78bpm in Minecraft. This comes as no surprise, given Minecraft is the most relaxing game in this list.
What kind of exercise you’d need to do to match calory-burning gaming sessions
Betway also asked participants to measure their heart rate whilst doing squats, crunches and pushups.
This allowed Betway to calculate how much exercise gamers would need to do to equal the amount of calories burned whilst gaming.
Fortnite is leading the way in terms of the number of squats needed to match calories burnt from a Fortnite session, with 353 squats needed.
Take this study with a pinch of salt, given it covered 17 gamers, and avoid substituting actual exercise with more gaming sessions. Good exercise, sleep and diet has been proven to improve performance, both in terms of physical performance and behind the screen taking part in esports.
See the full Betway Insider findings here: Could you ditch a workout in favour of gaming?
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
