Fortnite A cross-entertainment oasis?

When it comes to games that leverage music, TV, film, and many of the other topics covered in Gamers: a cross-entertainment summary report, Fortnite is the de-facto example. While Epic Games’ Fortnite: Save the World began as a modest cooperative shooter in 2017, the spin-off battle royale mode (100-player last-person standing) plummeted Fortnite into mainstream appeal. Fortnite has since evolved into a multi-game platform, social hangout spot, and a creative sandbox for players and developers to create their own user-generated content. 

Fortnite is a phenomenon in every sense of the word. It is a household name that pulled in 100 million monthly active users in November 2024. Fortnite’s in-game items, emotes, and events offer countless opportunities for cross-entertainment activations. Several of the world’s biggest brands, musical artists, and film / TV intellectual properties (IP) leverage Fortnite for their advertising goals. 

It is symbiotic: Epic Games benefits from in-game purchases and expanded reach among fans of certain franchises / artists, and the artists and IP holders get marketing, a potential revenue share for related in-game purchases, and access to a highly engaged, young user base. Naturally, the conditions of each contract will differ depending on the artist or IP in question, but the opportunities are palpable. 

Music

Fortnite’s music activations are perhaps its most robust and well-known:

• In-game concerts: Fortnite has hosted virtual concerts from the likes of Marshmello, Travis Scott, and Ariana Grande. The biggest musical event so far came from the Eminem x Fortnite collab, which was part of Fortnite’s Big Bang event that closed out Chapter 4: Season OG  
• In-game items and cosmetics: Fortnite sells custom cosmetics – ‘’skins’’ –based on musicians from Billie Eilish to Travis Scott, and also features licensed music in its emotes (a notable example is a dance and soundbite from Megan Thee Stallion’s ‘Savage’ )
• Fortnite Festival: As part of its major strategy expansion into experiences in 2023, Epic launched Fortnite Festival, a spiritual successor to the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games (Epic even acquired Harmonix, the studio behind those games, to work on the mode). Players can buy Jam Tracks – including songs from Metallica, Post Malone, and Lady Gaga – à la carte, and use them in the lobby and menus, too
• Real-world collab merch: As part of his Fortnite collaboration, Eminem offered bespoke apparel and vinyl to mark the occasion

TV, movies, and sports

When a blockbuster movie or TV show launches, you can expect it to have some kind of presence in Fortnite: 

• Cosmetics: Branded cosmetics and in-game items across practically every popular property – from Dragon Ball Z and John Wick to Star Wars and Marvel –are featured. Batman (DC) versus Spider-Man (Marvel), Goku versus Naruto, and even PlayStation characters versus Xbox characters: it is all possible in Fortnite, and IP holders are putting their IP worries aside to be featured in the same game
• Athletes getting involved: On the sports side, we have seen Fortnite skins for LeBron James (basketball), Patrick Mahomes (American football), Neymar Jr. (soccer), and John Cena (wrestling)
• Trailers: Disney debuted a Star Wars Rise of Skywalker scene in Fortnite back in 2019, and players could view it on an in-game screen, watch-party style

In fact, Disney’s relationship with Fortnite has been long and strong, with the entertainment giant doubling down on the relationship in 2024 via a $1.5 billion investment into Epic Games. As Fortnite continues to grow its metaverse ambitions and dabble in the creator economy with its Fortnite Creative Mode and UEFN (a dedicated game engine for general consumers and developers alike to create Fortnite content), it seems Fortnite will continue to grow as a platform. And it will take its cross-entertainment partners along for the ride. With ongoing branded activations, new modes appearing all the time (from Epic and third parties), and Fortnite’s clear dedication to music, it is an exciting time for cross-media and one of gaming’s biggest phenomena.