YouTube’s annual look at the year, “YouTube Rewind,” was released today, revealing the most-liked and most-watched videos in multiple categories. Fortnite took second place in YouTube’s most-viewed video games category, but it fell well behind the category winner.
Fortnite was the second most-viewed video game on YouTube in 2019. It was surpassed by Minecraft by over 40 billion views.
The top-five games in the most-viewed video games category were Roblox, Garena Free Fire, Grand Theft Auto, Fortnite, and Minecraft. Fortnite is the king of streaming on Twitch in 2019 as the most streamed game of the year. With a high stakes, competitive environment, it’s easy to get swept away in the adrenaline. But YouTube viewers get their thrill from other sources.
Fortnite had over 60 billion views in 2019 and it was still overshadowed by Minecraft. The blocky, open-world crafting game pulled in over 100 billion views in 2019. Minecraft leads Fortnite by 40 billion, more views than other games in the category received in total.
Minecraft is known for its popularity among younger gamers. The game debuted in 2011 on Microsoft platforms. It’s an open-world sandbox game with soothing music and charming, Lego-like graphics. In terms of gameplay and pacing, it’s the opposite of Fortnite. It’s calm and slow, unless a creeper shows up. Fortnite is fast and thrilling, with a sense of imminent danger and conflict.
Minecraft surged in popularity thanks, in part, to Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg. PewDiePie, the second most subscribed channel and the most subscribed solo-owned channel on YouTube, began a Minecraft series earlier this year. The Swedish YouTuber played Minecraft for the first time in his series, documenting his follies and thrills. Other YouTubers followed suit, including PewDiePie’s friend and YouTuber Sean “JackSepticEye” MacLoughlin.
Minecraft may be the gaming king of YouTube, but Fortnite’s throne is safe on Twitch and Mixer—at least for 2019.
