With the help of Harmonix, Epic Games has launched Fortnite Festival, featuring music gaming and performances by The Weeknd, aiming to grow the genre’s audience.
Fortnite, the world’s most popular battle royale game, has long been integrating music into its experience, with emotes, radio stations, and major in-game concerts starring artists like Marshmello and Travis Scott. Now, Fortnite developer Epic Games is taking it to a whole new level with the launch of Fortnite Festival, an ambitious in-game music festival experience developed in partnership with legendary music game studio Harmonix.
Kicking off today, Fortnite Festival brings a full-fledged music gaming experience to the free-to-play title for the first time. Players can now rock out to popular songs without the need for plastic instruments by hitting notes in time to the music, similar to classics like Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Major music superstar The Weeknd headlines the first season of Festival, with players able to choose his avatar and play hits like Blinding Lights and The Hills.
While Fortnite Festival launches with a more casual Jam Session mode, future updates promise more hardcore and competitive music gaming experiences to come. Epic plans to host in-game concerts on virtual stages, potentially turning Fortnite into a digital music festival that could provide unique interactive performances on a scale never seen before.
As the pioneer of the modern music game genre, Harmonix brings decades of expertise to Fortnite Festival. But the studio views its previous titles like Guitar Hero as merely opening acts to this ambitious new project. Thanks to Fortnite’s massive free-to-play audience and culture-dominating status, Harmonix believes Fortnite Festival represents its first chance to bring music gaming into the mainstream.
Early reception to Fortnite Festival seems optimistic so far. Players are praising the accuracy and responsiveness of the note-hitting gameplay. The ability to play without extra equipment should lower the barrier to entry for newcomers while still appealing to hardcore music gamers. With Epic promising this is just the beginning, Fortnite looks poised to start a new chapter as an interactive virtual music venue.
