Fortnite OG Map breaks broadband data record in the UK

The return of Fortnite’s original map (aka the Fortnite OG map) has broken Virgin Media O2’s record for its busiest ever day on its broadband network in the UK.

The popular map came back with a bang, with record numbers of gamers returning to jump in with friends online: Epic Games said 44.7m racked up 102m hours of play on Saturday November 3rd.

And before that, on Friday November 2nd, the first day that the latest season and Fortnite OG map was made available to play, Virgin Media O2’s download traffic reached 154,000TB.

This was a 10% increase on the previous busiest day on Virgin Media O2’s broadband network, which took place on Sunday April 16th (140,000TB).

Gaming related updates have continue to dominate the rankings when it comes to Virgin Media O2’s busiest days of network traffic, the network provider said in a press release.

Various Call of Duty titles and its free-to-play Warzone mode have frequently been the main catalyst for record network surges in recent years. 

And with the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on Friday November 10th 2023, and a rumoured 234GB file size to download on day one, the popular gaming series could once again break records when it comes to network data usage.

Paul Kells, Director, Network Strategy & Engineering at Virgin Media O2, said on the Fortnite OG map data record: “We’ve seen over the years that gaming and its frequent and chunky updates cause record data usage on our network. 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. With our gigabit network, backed up by our market leading Wi-Fi guarantee, it is the perfect ally to keep gamers ahead of the game.”

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Dom Sacco

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.