Snoop Dogg’s Times Square concert showed the ambitious future of music in Fortnite

In beforehand of thousands of fans successful Times Square, with astir of the sprawling screens displaying his face, Snoop Dogg provided a twist connected 1 of hip-hop’s iconic lines. “It ain’t nothin’ but a gangsta party,” helium chanted. “It ain’t nothin’ but a Fortnite gangsta party.” The infinitesimal was portion of a performance that besides featured Ice Spice, each performed unrecorded successful New York portion being broadcast arsenic an in-game lawsuit for anyone logged successful to the game. The conflict royale has had plentifulness of concerts and events successful caller years, but the Snoop collaboration is portion of a program to much profoundly integrate euphony into the budding metaverse.

“This is simply a partnership,” Snoop said during an interrogation aft the show. “Most games conscionable privation 1 opus and you don’t adjacent spot the artist. So for them to fto america beryllium a portion of the game, and that community, it’s deep.”

In the past, Fortnite’s large philharmonic moments person mostly been singular virtual concerts from the likes of Ariana Grande and Metallica. But implicit the years, euphony has steadily permeated the crippled to the constituent that Snoop’s Times Square show was conscionable a kickoff constituent for a monthlong event.

Fortnite’s existent season, dubbed Chapter 2 Remix, debuted this weekend, rewinding the timepiece with a mentation of the conflict royale representation from respective years ago. But there’s a twist — hence the “remix” successful the title. Each week, the crippled volition alteration slightly, themed astir a antithetic artist. Snoop is up first. You tin enlist him arsenic a companion, sojourn a heavy guarded Dogg Pound compound, oregon stone retired arsenic his tracks play connected the vigor arsenic you thrust astir the island.

If you footwear up Fortnite Festival, the bushed crippled developed by Rock Band workplace Harmonix, he’s the caller headlining act, which means you tin bargain his songs to play on to, unlock Snoop-themed guitars and drum sets, and bargain a crip locomotion emote that plays “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” Snoop volition beryllium followed by Eminem, Ice Spice, and the precocious Juice WRLD, with aboriginal updates introducing elements similar a weapon that spits Eminem lyrics.

According to Nate Nanzer, caput of planetary partnerships astatine Fortnite developer Epic, determination person been 2 cardinal points successful the improvement of euphony successful the crippled that led to this point. The archetypal was Travis Scott’s “Astronomical” concert, which showed the standard imaginable with these kinds of virtual events, with an assemblage topping 12 million. “After we did Travis Scott we had everybody coming to america saying ‘Hey, I privation to bash that,’” says Nanzer.

The 2nd was the motorboat of Fortnite Festival past year. Like the conflict royale mode, Festival has seasons, each “headlined” by a antithetic artist, which, to date, has included stars similar Billie Eilish and Lady Gaga. “If you look astatine each of the things we did prior, they tended to beryllium much one-off,” says Nanzer. “We’d bash an event, and past months oregon adjacent years would spell by earlier we did thing else. What Festival did was springiness america this venue to beryllium capable to observe euphony much regularly.

For Snoop’s lad Cordell Broadus, determination was 1 peculiar infinitesimal that convinced him Snoop should beryllium successful 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” arsenic players flew down to the conflict royale island. “I kept saying: ‘I gotta enactment his euphony successful there,’” helium explains. “Because each clip I play Fortnite that’s what I hear. So a batch of the inspiration came from seeing them doing it, and seeing that Fortnite’s not acrophobic to truly woody with hardcore hip-hop.”

That feeling grew stronger arsenic the much ambitious virtual concerts continued to marque waves. “We’re existent competitive,” says Broadus. “So we’re competing with Travis Scott. What helium did with Fortnite was huge, and I consciousness similar we topped that tonight. But we’ll fto the radical decide.” (Snoop was speedy to clarify that “I didn’t accidental that, helium said that.”)

The Fortnite collaborations that get headlines — and a premier Friday nighttime spot successful Times Square — diagnostic immense artists. But portion of turning the crippled into a viable venue for music, according to Nanzer, is integrating it successful aggregate ways truthful that each kinds of artists tin beryllium featured. In summation to virtual concerts and headlining Festival, determination are the emotes, in-game vigor stations, and idiosyncratic tracks you tin bargain to play successful Festival.

“We privation to enactment with the biggest artists successful the world,” says Nanzer, “but we besides privation to fig retired if we tin interruption artists successful Fortnite.”