Fortnite hosts world's largest concert as Marshmello plays set to 10 million gamers

DJ Marshmello performs 10 minute set for players

The world's biggest concert took place over the weekend, though anyone not familiar with the online game Fortnite may not have known it was taking place.

The appearance of Christopher Comstock – who goes by the stage name DJ Marshmello – within the wildly popular video game represented the largest virtual performance in history, with an estimated 10 million people witnessing the 10 minute set.

"We made history today," Marshmello tweeted. "The first ever live virtual concert inside of @fortnite with millions of people in attendance. So insane, thank you Epic Games and everyone who made this possible!"

He added: "What makes me happiest about today is that so many people got to experience their first concert ever. All the videos I keep seeing of people laughing and smiling throughout the set are amazing. Man I'm still so pumped."

It was not the first ever live performance to take place within a video game, though no previous event had taken place at such scale.

Both Minecraft and Second Life have played host to virtual gigs in the past, though neither ever boasted such a huge number of concurrent players as Fortnite.

Since launching in 2017, the free-to-play game has attracted more than 200 million players, who compete to be the last person or last team standing in a battle royale format.

During the event, developer Epic Games disabled weapons for all players of the game, meaning people could watch Marshmello without the risk of being killed by another player.

Beyond the reported 10 million who watched the performance live, a further 12 million have since watched a stream of the event posted to YouTube.

"This concert was about gaming and music really coming together and allowing so many different possibilities in the future," Marshmello said. "Enough with the haters."