Cath Bowie, a 78-year-old grandmother, now holds a world record for Fortnite streaming.
The Scottish septuagenarian — better known online as Grumpygran1948 — has been officially decreed as the world’s oldest Fortnite streamer (female) by Guinness World Records. Bowie began playing Fortnite in 2017, during the battle royale mode’s launch week, making her a true OG.
Speaking to BBC News, the gaming grandma said she had been introduced to the game by her teenage grandson, who initially told her that nobody would watch a grandmother playing Fortnite — something she then took as a challenge.
“He just couldn’t believe that his grandma would do such a thing and suggested that nobody would join me or watch me,” Bowie said. “Saying that was like a red rag to a bull to me. I would show him that I could do it.
“Twenty four thousand followers later and he doesn’t mention it,” she continued. “I wonder why?”
Now, Bowie plays with others from across the world, and streams daily via YouTube and Twitch. Her achievement has also now been recognized by Fortnite developer Epic Games, which has described her as a “goat.”
“You’re trying to get the better of your opponents and eliminate them,” Bowie said of Fortnite’s main battle royale mode, which she appears to play in the popular Zero Build mode. “But there’s no blood on the scene – you just shoot somebody and they either crawl about until they die or they’re just obliterated with the one shot. So there isn’t any mess — nothing like that.”
Image credit: Guinness World Records.
Tom Phillips
News Editor
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
