Epic Games is trying to make music collaborations a larger part of its always-changing virtual world.
In front of thousands of fans in Times Square, with most of the sprawling screens displaying his face, Snoop Dogg provided a twist on one of hip-hop’s iconic lines. “It ain’t nothin’ but a gangsta party,” he chanted. “It ain’t nothin’ but a Fortnite gangsta party.” The moment was part of a concert that also featured Ice Spice, all performed live in New York while being broadcast as an in-game event for anyone logged in to the game. The battle royale has had plenty of concerts and events in recent years, but the Snoop collaboration is part of a plan to more deeply integrate music into the budding metaverse.
“This is a partnership,” Snoop said during an interview after the show. “Most games just want one song and you don’t even see the artist. So for them to let us be a part of the game, and that community, it’s deep.”
In the past, Fortnite’s big musical moments have largely been singular virtual concerts from the likes of Ariana Grande and Metallica. But over the years, music has steadily permeated the game to the point that Snoop’s Times Square performance was just a kickoff point for a monthlong event.
Fortnite’s current season, dubbed Chapter 2 Remix, debuted this weekend, rewinding the clock with a version of the battle royale map from several years ago. But there’s a twist — hence the “remix” in the title. Each week, the game will change slightly, themed around a different artist. Snoop is up first. You can enlist him as a companion, visit a heavily guarded Dogg Pound compound, or rock out as his tracks play on the radio as you drive around the island.
If you boot up Fortnite Festival, the rhythm game developed by Rock Band studio Harmonix, he’s the new headlining act, which means you can buy his songs to play along to, unlock Snoop-themed guitars and drum sets, and buy a crip walk emote that plays “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” Snoop will be followed by Eminem, Ice Spice, and the late Juice WRLD, with future updates introducing elements like a gun that spits Eminem lyrics.
According to Nate Nanzer, head of global partnerships at Fortnite developer Epic, there have been two key points in the evolution of music in the game that led to this point. The first was Travis Scott’s “Astronomical” concert, which showed the scale possible with these kinds of virtual events, with an audience topping 12 million. “After we did Travis Scott we had everybody coming to us saying ‘Hey, I want to do that,’” says Nanzer.
The second was the launch of Fortnite Festival last year. Like the battle royale mode, Festival has seasons, each “headlined” by a different artist, which, to date, has included stars like Billie Eilish and Lady Gaga. “If you look at all of the things we did prior, they tended to be more one-off,” says Nanzer. “We’d do an event, and then months or even years would go by before we did something else. What Festival did was give us this venue to be able to celebrate music more regularly.
For Snoop’s son Cordell Broadus, there was one particular moment that convinced him Snoop should be in Fortnite. In 2022, a collaboration with the Wu-Tang Clan featured an in-game glider that would play the chorus to “C.R.E.A.M” as players flew down to the battle royale island. “I kept saying: ‘I gotta put his music in there,’” he explains. “Because every time I play Fortnite that’s what I hear. So a lot of the inspiration came from seeing them doing it, and seeing that Fortnite’s not afraid to really deal with hardcore hip-hop.”
That feeling grew stronger as the more ambitious virtual concerts continued to make waves. “We’re real competitive,” says Broadus. “So we’re competing with Travis Scott. What he did with Fortnite was huge, and I feel like we topped that tonight. But we’ll let the people decide.” (Snoop was quick to clarify that “I didn’t say that, he said that.”)
The Fortnite collaborations that get headlines — and a prime Friday night spot in Times Square — feature huge artists. But part of turning the game into a viable venue for music, according to Nanzer, is integrating it in multiple ways so that all kinds of artists can be featured. In addition to virtual concerts and headlining Festival, there are the emotes, in-game radio stations, and individual tracks you can buy to play in Festival.
Not all of these ideas have worked out. Epic tried to create a virtual tour stop for artists in 2020, going so far as to build out a studio space in Los Angeles, and the effort has largely fizzled out. But as the company continues to try to push Fortnite beyond its battle royale roots, with games like Lego Fortnite, a concentrated focus on community-made games and experiences, and a still-mysterious virtual world built with Disney, music is another important tool to make the game more than just another live-service shooter, an increasingly difficult space to compete in. That’s true at various scales, from Snoop in New York to an indie band getting its first airtime on a Fortnite radio station.
“We want to work with the biggest artists in the world,” says Nanzer, “but we also want to figure out if we can break artists in Fortnite.”
