Fortnite Archives

Sabrina Carpenter Teams With Fortnite for New ‘Dance With Sabrina’ Experience

May 27, 2025

Sabrina Carpenter might be a pro at dominating stages in the real world, but now she’s set her eyes on the world of Fortnite, teaming up for their newly announced Dance With Sabrina Jam Stage Experience.

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Carpenter was initially welcomed into the Fortnite universe in early April, joining in for the festivities of Fortnite Festival season eight. Her involvement has already resulted in a handful of her tracks being made available as part of the Season 8 Music Pass, with her outfits and instruments also being offered up to those who like their gameplay Short n’ Sweet.

Now, she’s expanding her virtual reach even further, with Carpenter inviting fans to jump onstage as she takes over the Festival Jam Stage. The newly announced Dance With Sabrina interactive music experience will be running continuously from Friday, May 30, at 3 p.m. ET until Monday, June 16, at 11:59 p.m. ET.

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Dance With Sabrina will see players invited to take part in her vibrant and critically acclaimed live show. Players are able to test their rhythm as they match to the beat of Sabrina’s 2024 Pop Airplay-topping singles “Bad Chem” and “Espresso” as they fill their heart meter.

Those with the highest heart meter by the song’s end will be able to contribute to the gig as Dance Leader, Special Effects Pro or Video Artist for the next song. The skilled players who manage to match the most beats for the whole shot will ultimately be able to appear side-by-side with Sabrina in the finale snapshot.

“Artists come to Fortnite to connect with their fans and create in-game music experiences that are authentic to their music and style,” said Emily Levy, Director of Music, Talent & Influencer at Epic Games, in a statement. “When Sabrina came to Fortnite, we saw seas of Sabrina Carpenter Outfits populate matches and perform synchronized Dance Emotes, so we knew we had to celebrate this season with an epic dance party inspired by our players and their incredible energy.”

Alongside the newly announced experience, Fortnite have also dropped some further good news for fans of Carpenter, with her “Bad Chem” Jam Track and “Bad Chem” Emote set to be available in the “Bad Chem” Bundle when it arrives in the Fortnite Shop on Thursday, May 29, at 8 p.m. ET.

Fortnite Maker Beats $32M Patent Lawsuit Over Travis Scott, Ariana Grande Virtual Concerts

djfrosty

May 20, 2025

The maker of Fortnite has defeated a $32.5 million patent lawsuit over animated in-game concerts put on by Travis Scott and Ariana Grande, with a federal jury deciding that it did not steal another company’s technology for the virtual events.
The verdict came down on Monday (May 19) after a weeklong trial against Fortnite maker Epic Games. Epic was accused of infringing a patent invented by Canadian virtual reality company Utherverse Digital when it staged the virtual Scott and Grande concerts for tens of millions of Fortnite users in 2020 and 2021.

Utherverse was seeking $32.5 million in damages for the alleged infringement. But the jury in Seattle federal court rejected the claims, siding with Epic to rule that neither the Scott nor the Grande concert stole Utherverse’s technology.

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Lawyers for Utherverse and Epic did not immediately respond to Billboard‘s requests for comment on the verdict Tuesday (May 20).

The litigation has been ongoing since 2021. That year, Utherverse claimed that the Fortnite concerts relied on a patent it was issued in 2017, which covers a type of technology for playing back a recorded event in a virtual world.

Epic denied any infringement, saying the technology behind its virtual concerts used completely different processes than Utherverse’s patent. Epic’s attorney, Daralyn Durie of the law firm Morrison Foerster, said during the trial’s closing arguments that Utherverse was “trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.”

Jurors heard testimony during the trial from Brian Shuster and Aaron Burch, two Utherverse employees who co-invented the patent at issue. Multiple Epic executives also testified, including controller Brian Boyle and former head of marketing Matthew Weissinger.

Scott’s “Astronomical” concert series in April 2020 made history as Fornite’s largest-yet in-game gathering, drawing nearly 28 million unique players from across the world across five airings of a pre-taped performance by the rapper’s avatar.

In August 2021, Fortnite followed up its success with the Scott concerts with Grande’s “Rift Tour,” which similarly featured an animated version of the pop star performing hits like “7 rings” and “Positions” across five viewings.

A number of other artists have since performed their own virtual concerts within the massively popular Fortnite gaming universe, including Eminem, The Weeknd and Billie Eilish.

‘Fortnite’ AI-Powered Darth Vader Featuring James Earls Jones Voice Sparks Debate On X

djfrosty

May 16, 2025

Source: Epic Games / Fortnite AI-Powered Darth Vader / Getty Images / James Earl Jones
Did Epic Games cross the line with its AI-powered Darth Vader companion that uses James Earl Jones voice? Gamers are currently debating.
The iconic actor James Earl Jones passed away last year, but his contributions to cinema, especially his iconic voice, will forever be linked to the Star Wars villain Darth Vader.

Starting today, Walt Disney Co. and Epic Games will allow Fortnite players to recruit and speak to Darth Vader.

Thanks to the power of generative AI, the Vader in-game character will use the late actor’s voice. Epic Games said they are doing so while remaining in “close consultation” with Jones’ family.

How Epic Games Is Bringing James Earl Jones To Fortnite
Epic Games uses Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash model to generate Vader’s responses to players, while ElevenLabs’ Flash v2.5 model generates Jones’ voice.
“James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it,” the family of James Earl Jones said in a statement. “We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character.”
This decision changes the direction of the entertainment industry in situations like this. In previous Star Wars games, actors were hired to mimic Jones’ voice while he was still alive.
“Epic Games and Disney have worked together to thoughtfully develop this innovative feature with a strong focus on transparency, consent, and safety — ensuring that creators, Disney IP, and players are protected in interactive experiences,” Disney and Epic said in a statement announcing the decision.
As with anything, nothing goes off without a hitch. IGN reported that Epic Games had to issue a patch within an hour of AI-Darth Vader going live because videos of him dropping f-bombs hit X, formerly Twitter timelines.

Gamers do not like conversing with an AI-powered chatbot with Jones’s voice either.
“We deadass having a conversation with James Earl Jones via AI…? Yea you can keep it,” one post on X read.
Welp, it looks like its not going anywhere, and as long they got permission from the Jones family, we don’t see an issue, but this is still opening a can of worms for many.
You can see more reactions in the gallery below.

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D4vd & ZHU Entertain Fans & Competitors at Fortnite Pro-Am Tournament & Billboard After Party: See Photos

djfrosty

May 12, 2025

05/12/2025

Top Fortnite players & content creators competed in L.A., where D4vd provided commentary, and ZHU performed at Fortnite and Billboard’s afterparty.

05/12/2025

Inside the Sony Music Team That Leverages Gaming to Build Artists’ Careers

djfrosty

April 30, 2025

After Sleepy Hallow‘s “2055” went triple platinum four years ago, Sony Music’s gaming-and-music team noticed something about the Jamaican-American rapper’s fans: They were gamers. And not just gamers, but Fortnite players.
According to the label’s internal research, Sleepy Hallow fans are 2.5 times more likely to play Fortnite than the national average and twice as likely to play games overall. “It stuck out,” says Alex Ciccimarro, vp of marketing for Sony-owned RCA Records. “Since then, every campaign we’ve worked on with Sleepy, we’ve tried to incorporate gamers.”

The latest project on this front is “The Hallow Heist,” an April 18 virtual-concert event on Fortnite in which a world designed by Sleepy Hallow with his team, employing Epic Games’ user tools known as Unreal Engine for Fortnite, led players to a new music video for “Girls Like Girls.” Hallow, 25, is a longtime Fortnite player who “came in with a bunch of ideas,” Ciccimarro says. The rapper built “The Hallow Heist” with help from his Winner’s Circle Entertainment managers, plus RCA and Sony Immersive Music Studios.

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Since the pandemic, a hit Fortnite experience can help an artist build a massive audience. Travis Scott‘s performance drew more than 12 million players in 2020, and 14.3 million experienced last December’s Remix: The Finale event starring Snoop Dogg, Juice WRLD, Eminem and Ice Spice. The user bases of Fortnite, Roblox and other gaming platforms are so potent for artists that one content producer told Billboard last year: “Just the way every artist has an Instagram account and a TikTok, eventually everyone’s going to have a Roblox presence.” Sony’s team has been especially aggressive in this space, including by arranging a virtual concert last October for British singer-songwriter Myles Smith.

“That intersection of gaming and music is a young-consumer-led trend — which obviously is super-important for us, because they’re so influential in breaking new artists,” says Dennis Kooker, Sony Music’s president of global digital business. “We’ve had a lot of young artists that have grown up playing games and know the space really well and have great creative ideas.”

Brad Spahr, senior vp/general manager of Sony Immersive Music Studios, says the Hallow world-creation team focused on a singular question: “What would Sleepy’s brain look like?” Very purple, as it turns out. In “The Hallow Heist,” the rapper’s avatar wears a puffy purple coat as evil robots armed with lasers put him to sleep, while the rest of the game involves players floating, jumping, zip-lining and racing cars through a futuristic purple cityscape. When they finally succeed, Hallow declares, “What a trip. I’ve got this song stuck in my head. Yep, studio time.” The game ends with a trip to a recording studio, where Hallow debuted his new single “Girls Like Girls.” A music video for the track subsequently came out on April 24 and landed 108,000 YouTube views in the first five days of its release. The track has streamed 1.2 million times overall, according to Luminate.

“He was involved the whole way,” says Spahr, whose Culver City, Calif.-based Sony Music team initially emphasized virtual reality when it started nearly 10 years ago, but now emphasizes Fortnite and Roblox in addition to other projects. “He gave us a lot of reference material — things we could work with to build the framework of a creative concept.”

As with all of the Sony team’s projects, Hallow’s Fortnite activation entailed a complex technology design but a simple idea: Reach gamers where they are. “It’s an ‘If you build it, they will come’ situation,” RCA’s Ciccimarro says. “The community wants to be there, and we just gave them something to do.”

Luminate-Epic Games Deal Brings Gaming Music Metrics Into Focus

djfrosty

April 30, 2025

Luminate has announced a new partnership with Epic Games that will see the entertainment data company begin tracking music usage from Fortnite’s Jam Tracks inside its Connect platform, marking a notable shift in how the music industry monitors fan engagement across gaming platforms.
Announced Wednesday (April 30), the agreement adds Fortnite Jam Tracks to Luminate’s growing “Interactive On-Demand” category, offering labels, managers, and rights holders deeper insight into how music is being experienced and consumed inside Epic Games’ massively popular title.

While the integration reflects growing industry interest in transmedia fan behaviour, particularly in the gaming space, Luminate has confirmed that Jam Tracks streaming data from Fortnite will not be counted toward Billboard charts.

Trending on Billboard

The new feature builds on Luminate’s 2024 mid-year report, which found that tracks featured in Fortnite Festival announcements saw an average 8.7% lift in on-demand audio streams the day after being announced. The company’s 2024 year-end report also highlighted streaming gains for Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Ice Spice, and Juice WRLD, following their involvement in Fortnite Remix, a month-long music activation held in November 2024.

“Luminate is committed to serving the entire entertainment ecosystem with valuable data and insights,” said Luminate CEO Rob Jonas in a statement.

“In today’s increasingly transmedia landscape, where technology is blurring the lines of content and fan experiences across platforms, it’s more important than ever to understand engagement and audience trends in the gaming space and how they overlap with music consumption.”

“We’re witnessing the rise of interconnected experiences, and understanding how audiences interact with these across games, music, and other mediums is crucial. We’re delighted that our new partners at Epic Games understand this need, and we look forward to developing this partnership as the convergence of music and gaming evolves.”

Emily Levy, director of music, talent and influencer at Epic Games, said the partnership will help creators and artists better understand the impact of in-game music experiences.

“Music in Fortnite gives players an authentic way to experience iconic songs through self-expression, creation, discovery and play,” she said. “We look forward to continuing to work with the music industry to tap into unique and immersive ways to connect with new and existing fans.”

Interactive On-Demand streams from Fortnite’s Jam Tracks are currently not a Billboard chart-eligible metric.

Sleepy Hallow to Perform New Single in ‘The Hallow Heist,’ a Concert Created in Fortnite

djfrosty

April 10, 2025

Brooklyn rapper Sleepy Hallow has announced “The Hallow Heist,” an immersive concert event in Fortnite, developed in partnership with Sony Music and his label, RCA Records. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Premiering on April 18, the event will take place on a custom island tailored to […]

‘Fortnite Festival’ Unveils First-Year Stats, Announces All-Access Weekend & New Artist Bundles

djfrosty

December 10, 2024

On Fortnite Festival‘s first anniversary, the popular music-focused game is sharing stats from its first 12 months of play and unveiling an “all-access weekend” for users to celebrate the milestone. According to a blog post published Tuesday (Dec. 10), Fortnite Festival players smashed more than one trillion Gems on tracks from 236 artists and played […]

Get Those V-Bucks Ready, ‘Fortnite’ Unveils Its Lineup of Virtual Nike & Jordan Brand Sneakers

djfrosty

November 21, 2024

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Source: Epic Games / Fortnite
Fortnite is taking your character’s footwear game to another level.
At this point, the question should be, what’s not in Fortnite? Beginning today, the ridiculously popular video game will introduce its latest feature, a virtual sneaker wardrobe led by Nike and Jordan Brand that will introduce iconic silhouettes and custom designs into the game.

To kick things off, players can use their V-Bucks to virtually scoop up a pair of Nike Cortez Leather OG, Nike Air Foamposite One “Galaxy,” Nike Shox R4 “Comet Red,” and Fortnite’s exclusive Chomp Stompers.
Jordan Brand takes flight beginning November 22 through November 26, and players can virtually cop sneakerhead favorites like the Air Jordan 3 Retro “Palomino,” Air Jordan 3 “Black Cement-Gray,” Air Jordan 11 “Bred,” and Air Jordan 4 Retro “Manila.” Select sneakers, notably the Air Jordan 3 “Black Cement” and Air Jordan 11 “Bred,” will also be available.
According to HypeBeast, the Air Jordan 3 “Black Cement” already had a “shock drop” release, and the Air Jordan 11 “Bred” will launch in the game and physical stores simultaneously.
This news follows our initial reporting that the Air Jordan 1 “Black Toe Reimagined” will be part of the Season 2 Remix Pass and a new “Show ‘Em Off” emote, available from November 21 through December 1.
All of the kicks will be available to over 500 existing Fortnite skins, with Epic Games pushing for compatibility with 95% of all skins by spring 2025, giving players even more stylish options for their favorite Fortnite skins.
Fortnite Chapter 2: Remix also introduced Eminem, Ice Spice, Juice WRLD, and Snoop Dogg as playable skins.

Now is a good time if you’re looking for an opportunity to jump back into Fortnite. You can see more photos of the in-game kicks in the gallery below.

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The Air Jordan 1 “Black Toe Reimagined” Is Coming Back… In ‘Fortnite’

djfrosty

November 5, 2024

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Source: Epic Games / Fortnite / Air Jordan 1 “Black Toe Reimagined”
The Air Jordan 1 “Black Toe Reimagined” is one of the more popular silhouettes of Michael Jordan’s first signature sneaker is coming back to Fortnite.
As part of the Fortnite Chapter 2 Remix, Epic Games is introducing Fortnite Kicks, allowing players to lace the characters they choose to play with the freshest footwear.

KICKS, a new cosmetic feature, will offer players a virtual footwear collection and kick things off with the Air Jordan 1 “Black Toe Reimagined” and a pair of shark slippers.
Source: Epic Games / Fortnite
Fortnite also says players can expect kicks from other brands, not just Nike and Jordan, and the virtual footwear is compatible with over 500 of the most popular Fortnite drip and over 95% of the in-game outfits by the spring.
Beginning November 12, players can unlock a pair of the “Black Toe Reimagined” through the game’s Remix Pass.
In the real world, the “Black Toes” were released in 1985 and became instant hits when they were retroed. They were supposed to return on October 18, 2024, but the release was delayed until February 1, 2025, according to Sneaker News.
The Remix Pass is the new way to unlock collectibles and more via Fortnite Chapter 2 Remix. We reported yesterday that the game is rewinding the clock and bringing back fan favorites from Chapter 2. It will feature Snoop Dogg, Ice Spice, Eminem, and Juice WRLD as playable skins.

Chapter 2 Remix is live in Fortnite and will run until November 30. Epic also teases that things will close with a “finale.”
Hit the gallery below for more photos.

1. Fortnite Chapter 2 Remix