Week 41

751 new creators joined this week, up 18.8% from the prior week, the strongest new-creator intake since late September 2026. Publishing momentum is accelerating, but only 14.5% of islands with five or more plays are active, so supply growth outpaces real engagement. Prioritize updating and promoting existing islands before launching new ones, since active-ratio gains matter more than raw island count.

The recommend-to-play ratio fell 7.5% week-over-week while the favorite-to-play ratio rose 5.2%, a split signal on content satisfaction. Players are bookmarking islands they enjoy but recommending them less, suggesting loyalty without active word-of-mouth growth. Add a clear in-island prompt or reward that encourages recommendations, since favorites alone do not drive new player acquisition.

Top by Uniques

SUPER 1V1 - JDG by lait grew 822,886% in unique players this week, reaching 57,609 uniques from a near-zero base. Multiple debuts with near-zero prior-week counts dominated the growth chart, meaning algorithmic pickup drove the spikes, not organic audiences. Study what SUPER 1V1 - JDG and HEIST CHASE CITY share in title framing and genre to inform your next island's positioning.

D1 / D7 Retention Distribution

0-5% bucket WoW: +1939 islands (D1), +836 islands (D7) · 90-100% bucket WoW: +101 islands (D1), +31 islands (D7)

Average D1 retention fell 1.2 percentage points and D7 fell 1.3 points week-over-week across the platform. Tycoon islands dominate both the D1 and D7 top-10 lists, confirming that progression loops sustain return visits better than session-only formats. Build at least one daily return incentive into your island's loop, since D7 retention is the primary driver of payout-share weighting.

ferins reached rank 3 with only 6 islands but posted the highest total plays of any top-10 creator at 25.2 million. Efficiency per island, not portfolio size, separates the top earners: hive runs 13 islands to match similar unique-player counts. Audit your lowest-performing islands and consolidate traffic into fewer, higher-quality experiences to improve per-island output.

THE LADDER by codeseany averaged 673.6 minutes per player this week, the highest figure in the quality leaderboard. Islands averaging 400-plus minutes per player are niche but demonstrate that deep single-session designs can anchor extreme time investment. Identify the one mechanic in your island that causes players to stay longest and invest in expanding that mechanic first.

Category Share of Plays

Fastest-Growing Categories

Top Categories by D1

Category Intensity (Plays / Island)

KPOP DEMON HUNTERS leads all categories at 2,448 plays per island, ahead of STAR WARS at 2,246. Higher plays per island means each creator in that category captures more traffic relative to the competition within it. Target categories with the highest plays-per-island intensity, since a smaller number of islands divides a larger share of category traffic.

Genre Leaderboards

Player-weighted across each genre's islands. Peak CCU is the sum of island peak concurrents; retention is the returning-player rate.

Genre Weekly Rollup

Islands by Genre

Top Chart Position This Week

Biggest Chart Movers

Movers computed among top-100 chart positions.

Supply vs. Exposure

Retired 2026-09-18: the Discover genre row this measured no longer exists.

Farm Simulator by aokgames climbed 50 chart positions in Simulation & Tycoon, moving from an average rank of 88.5 to 38.1. A 50-position jump in one week inside the most payout-concentrated genre signals that timely seasonal content can rapidly shift chart standing. Launch or update islands with seasonal themes now, as HALLOWEEN TYCOON by yomigames also jumped 29 positions in the same genre this week.

Movements & Debuts

Real movement through the leagues this week: promoted, demoted, new debuts, and islands that left our ranking capture for that genre entirely (not a demotion).

Biggest Climbers

By typical genre rank moved, week over week.

Payout Share, Week over Week

PANDVIL Box Fights (1v1) by pandvil climbed 365 positions in the Shooter genre chart, moving from rank 408 to rank 43. Note that genre-league history covers only 4 days this window, so this movement reflects a short data window, not a full week. Check whether a recent update or external promotion triggered that jump, then replicate the timing approach for your own next content push.

Rocket Racing stopped appearing on Discover during the settled window of 28 September to 4 October 2026, with 34.8 million lifetime plays. A title of that scale leaving Discover shows that even high-play islands are not permanent fixtures on the platform. Document your island's peak performance benchmarks now so you have a clear baseline if visibility changes unexpectedly.

Simulation & Tycoon holds 40.9% of retention-weighted sticky engagement, with the top three genres capturing 79.9% combined, per Epic's engagement payout documentation at dev.epicgames.com/documentation/fortnite/engagement-payout-in-fortnite-creative. This is a single snapshot as of 12 October 2026 with no prior comparable period, so no trend can be stated. Build D1 and D7 return loops into any new island, since Epic's formula weights returning players, not raw playtime alone.

Oogghi's FFA (OG MOVEMENT) grew 452,896% to 240,088 plays in the 3-9 October breakout window. The island's title directly references a prior delisted island and adds a seasonal update tag, suggesting brand continuity drives rapid re-engagement. Use established island names or sequel framing combined with a visible update hook to accelerate re-entry into Discover discovery.

+1 Aura for Brainrot by wowsocool posted 2.02 favorites per unique player, the highest favorite conversion rate this week. A ratio above 2.0 means players favorited the island more than once on average, likely through multiple sessions or accounts. Design a clear favorite prompt tied to a content milestone so players who reach it are already primed to save the island.

Watch whether Horror genre chart climbers like CLOSE YOUR EYES and the Halloween tycoon entries sustain their positions into mid-October, as seasonal momentum could shift payout share away from Simulation & Tycoon.