Fortnite's Pokémon-Like Sprites Drive Player Surge, 5 New Species Arriving This Week

Fortnite is seeing a surge in players eager to hunt its Pokémon-like Sprites, with five more species set to arrive this week. Over 1.2 million players were active in the core battle royale modes on Saturday afternoon during a pair of two-hour 'Power Hour' events that significantly boosted rare Sprite spawns.

Excluding this month's major live story event, this was Fortnite's highest battle royale player count since March. Beyond Saturday's spike, overall battle royale player numbers have noticeably increased compared to the end of the previous season.

Fans have embraced Fortnite's new extraction, collection, and leveling mechanics, which involve finding gameplay-impacting Sprites, leveling them up, and securing their use in future matches via extraction points. The creatures have become so popular that some players are selling rare variants on eBay. Developer Epic Games has told IGN it is cracking down on such sales, as they violate Fortnite's rules.

Several ultra-rare shiny variants of each Sprite now exist, but Fortnite allows players to share and trade creatures with teammates. This means even the Galaxy Zero Point Sprite, with a reported 0.0000014% drop rate, is now circulating among players.

This week, five new Sprite varieties will be added in Fortnite's next update, currently scheduled for Thursday, June 25. More Sprites will arrive weekly, including several fan-designed species later this season. Have you collected them all?