In front of thousands of fans in Times Square, with most of the screens showing his face, Snoop Dogg put a spin on one of hip-hop's iconic lines. “It's nothing but a gangsta party,” he chanted. “It's nothing more than a fortnite gangsta party.” The moment was part of a concert that also featured Ice Spice, all performed live in New York and streamed as an in-game event to anyone logged in. The battle royale has had many concerts and events in recent years, but the collaboration with Snoop 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 a song and you don't even see the artist. So for them to let us be part of the game and that community is something profound.”
In the past, fortniteThe biggest musical moments have largely been one-off virtual concerts from artists like Ariana Grande and Metallica. But over the years, music has steadily permeated the game to the point that Snoop's performance in Times Square was just the starting point of a month-long event.
fortniteThe current season, called Chapter 2 Remix, debuted this weekend, turning back the clock with a version of the Battle Royale map from several years ago. But there is a twist, hence the “remix” of the title. Each week the game will change slightly and will be themed to a different artist. Snoop goes up first. You can recruit him as a companion, visit a heavily guarded Dogg Pound compound, or rock out while his songs play on the radio as you drive around the island.
If you start Fortnite Festivalthe rhythm game developed by rock band Studio Harmonix, is the new headline act, meaning you can purchase their songs to play, unlock Snoop-themed guitars and drums, and purchase a ride emote that plays “Drop It Like It's Hot.” Snoop will be followed by Eminem, Ice Spice and the late Juice WRLD, and future updates will introduce elements such as x.com/andredotuasset/status/1853219859741475322?t=EH9BlSHw3u3Xp4yw0XECiA”>A gun that spits out Eminem lyrics.
According to Nate Nanzer, head of global partnerships for fortnite Developer Epic, there have been two key points in the evolution of in-game music that led to this point. The first was Travis Scott's “Astronomical” concert, which showed the scale possible with this type of virtual event, with an audience that exceeded 12 million. “After we did Travis Scott, everyone came up to us and said, 'Hey, I want to do that,'” Nanzer says.
The second was the launch of Fortnite Festival last year. Like Battle Royale mode, Festival It 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 the things we did before, they tended to be more punctual,” Nanzer says. “We would do one event and then months or even years would pass before we did anything else. That Festival What we did was give ourselves this place to be able to celebrate music more regularly.
For Cordell Broadus, Snoop's son, there was a particular moment that convinced him that Snoop should be in fortnite. In 2022, a collaboration with Wu-Tang Clan featured an in-game glider that would play the chorus of “CREAM” as players flew toward the Battle Royale island. “I kept saying, 'I have to put his music on there,'” he explains. “Because every time I play fortnite That's what I hear. A lot of the inspiration came from watching them do it and seeing that fortnite“He’s not afraid to really deal with hardcore hip-hop.”
That feeling grew stronger as more ambitious virtual concerts continued to make waves. “We're really competitive,” Broadus says. “So we're competing with Travis Scott. what he did with fortnite It was huge and I feel like we surpassed it tonight. But we will let the people decide.” (Snoop was quick to clarify that “I didn't say that, he said that.”)
He fortnite The collaborations that make headlines (and take pride of place on Friday nights in Times Square) feature great artists. But part of making the game a viable venue for music, according to Nanzer, is integrating it in multiple ways so that all types of artists can be featured. In addition to virtual concerts and headliners FestivalThere are the emotes, the in-game radio stations and the individual tracks that you can purchase to play Festival.
Not all of these ideas have worked. Epic attempted to create a virtual tour stop for artists in 2020, going so far as to build a studio space in Los Angeles, and the effort largely failed. But as the company continues to try to push fortnite beyond its Battle Royale roots, with games like lego fortnitea concentrated focus on community-created games and experiences, and a still-mysterious virtual world built with Disney, music is another important tool in making the game more than just a live-action shooter, an increasingly difficult space in which to compete. This is true on various scales, from Snoop in New York to an indie band getting their 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 find out if we can highlight artists in fortnite.”
