Week 42

2,918 islands left Discover this week, 53.3% more than the week ending 11 October, while 2,976 new islands were published. Active islands fell 4.7% to 39,513 and inactive islands grew, pushing the active ratio to 14% of live islands. Run a row-eligibility check on your best live island: departure-driven vacancies open faster when new supply is simultaneously thin.

Steal An Egg by gargantuaa surged to 74.5K peak CCU, entering the global top six with a 147.1% gain. GO UP FOR BRAINROTS shed 31.5% to 236.5K while STEAL THE BRAINROT held near 520K, splitting brainrot by mechanic. Target steal-and-collect loops over vertical-climb formats when entering the brainrot space this week.

Top by Uniques

XOXO the CITY by godisgreats leads growth at +148,000%, with the same island also appearing in the peak CCU growth chart. Three new entries reached the top-six growth list, signalling broad discovery momentum beyond the established brainrot cluster. Track which growth-table islands also appear in quality or CCU charts; multi-chart presence is the clearest breakout signal.

D1 / D7 Retention Distribution

0-5% bucket WoW: -13984 islands (D1), -18474 islands (D7) · 90-100% bucket WoW: -403 islands (D1), -55 islands (D7)

Platform D7 fell 1.97 points to 24.96%, steeper than the 1.3-point drop in the week ending 11 October. With D1 at 36.22%, the sharper D7 fall suggests mid-week player habits are softening faster than day-one returns. Schedule a mid-week content drop or time-gated reward to give day-four and day-five players a specific return hook.

22.2M plays from 6 islands puts ferins top of the plays table, level with bullseye's 22-island portfolio. 58.8% D1 is the driver: nearly 6 in 10 ferins players return the next day, multiplying each unique's value. Build one island to above 50% D1 before expanding your portfolio; the plays-per-island gap proves focused retention outperforms breadth.

THE LADDER by codeseany reached 957.5 avg minutes per player, up 56.3% from 5 October, with second place at 582. RED VS BLUE PARADISE PALMS by stason entered the top three at 535.94 minutes, up 149% from 5 October. Target external promotion at your highest avg-minutes-per-player island, not your highest-plays island, for stronger engagement payout positioning.

Category Share of Plays

Fastest-Growing Categories

Top Categories by D1

Category Intensity (Plays / Island)

KPOP DEMON HUNTERS leads category intensity at 2.8K plays per island, 700 ahead of Star Wars at 2.1K. Star Wars leads total plays at 40.78% yet ranks second on per-island intensity, behind KPOP DEMON HUNTERS. Prioritise intensity over share when choosing a category: a smaller IP label can outperform a larger one per island.

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

Averaged over 6 days of available data.

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.

Sports & Racing is the only genre with two islands in this week's top-8 movers (6-day data). MOTORCREST CITY CAR DRIVE climbed 36 positions to avg #50 and EXTREME DESERT CAR DRIVE gained 31 to avg #57. Verify your Sports & Racing island carries the correct genre tag so it does not miss a concurrent-movement cycle.

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

"FNAF FREDDY FAZBEAR'S PIZZERIA ROLEPLAY" climbed 342 positions in the Horror genre chart, from rank 413 to 70.5, the largest single-week jump tracked since August 2026. A jump of that magnitude in six days of data confirms that Halloween-adjacent IP themes are driving rapid chart re-ordering in Horror right now. Launch or update a horror island with Halloween or FNAF-adjacent theming immediately to ride the current chart momentum before it peaks.

"Toy Story 5: The Great Toy Rescue" by disney stopped appearing on Discover during the week of October 5 to 11, ending with 3.48 million lifetime plays. A Disney-branded island with that volume leaving Discover shows that even high-profile IP launches can have short Discover windows. Plan your own island's long-term content roadmap to sustain Discover presence beyond an initial IP or theme spike.

Simulation & Tycoon holds 40.8% of retention-weighted sticky engagement, while the top three genres together account for 80.0%, per Epic's engagement payout documentation at dev.epicgames.com/documentation/fortnite/engagement-payout-in-fortnite-creative, which weighs playtime plus return visits with no disclosed window. This is a current snapshot as of October 18, 2026 with no prior period available for comparison; the concentration signals how dominant tycoon retention is relative to every other genre. Build retention loops modelled on Simulation & Tycoon mechanics if your genre allows, since sticky return visits drive the largest share of engagement-weighted payouts.

"HARD PARKOUR ⭐ 4067 DEATHRUN" by rodrii grew 1,273,050% in the October 10 to 16 breakout window, reaching 76,389 plays. A level-count callout in the island name signals depth to players browsing Discover, and this island's trajectory shows that signal converts. Add a concrete level or challenge count to your island's name or description to communicate depth before a player even clicks.

Three Horror islands entered the favorites-per-player top six this week, all new, filling half the table. The Halloween season appears to be driving deliberate favoriting of Horror content rather than casual play-through behavior. Publish a Horror-skinned version of an existing island format now, before the seasonal window narrows.

Plays and creator supply both contracted in Week 42, with 2,918 islands leaving Discover in the week ending October 11. Key signals: 1. Removal surge: 2,918 islands stopped appearing on Discover in the week ending October 11, up 53.3% in daily departures. 2. Retention dip: D1 fell 1.27 points to 36.22% and D7 fell 1.97 points to 24.96%, both declining together. 3. Engagement payout: Shooter and Horror were the only genres gaining engagement payout share notably this week, up 0.39 and 0.31 points. Key areas to monitor for Week 43: - Whether the removal rate normalises after October's spike - Steal An Egg's CCU trajectory after its new top-6 appearance - Horror's new D1 leaders sustaining above 60% Final tip: At the session's end, show players one specific reward waiting at their next login to convert long single visits into day-one returns.