How Concerts in Video Games Are Gaining Traction and Changing the Way We Attend Events

By now, pretty much everybody has heard of the video game Fortnite. Epic Games’ mega-hit has taken the world by storm – and not just the gaming world. With massive music events taking place within the game, Fortnite is transforming into something more than a game. It is turning into a full-on virtual event space, where some of the biggest musicians perform for an audience of millions. DJ Marshmello, rapper Travis Scott, and singer-songwriter Ariana Grande are the three biggest names on the list of the many artists that have taken center stage in the hit battle royale game. They have proven how successful virtual events can be and that the world is ready for a new kind of event: in-game concerts.

Fortnite and its ground-breaking in-game concerts

It all started in April 2019 when DJ Marshmello took the virtual stage in Epic Games’ Fortnite. The concert had been widely promoted, a time and place within the game was set, and players simply had to log in on time and make their way to the in-game stage with their avatar to attend. Although Fortnite is a video game that’s all about kill or be killed, there were no weapons allowed on the dance floor. What followed was something the world had never seen before. More than 10 million people logged in to watch and listen to Marshmello’s epic virtual concert. With that, the foundation for in-game concerts had been laid.

This major success was topped the following year with rapper Travis Scott attracting a record-breaking audience of 12.3 million people to his virtual astronomical concert within the game. Players attended an event that was out of this world, with a gigantic version of the rapper floating across the dance floor. In August this year, Epic Games took it to the next level and held a virtual “tour” with pop star Ariana Grande performing on five days in a candy-colored Fortnite that had players go through a series of mini-games and adventures to experience the virtual musician in her sparkling outfit. While dressing up your avatar with unique skins and sliding down a rainbow racetrack before watching a skyscraper-high pop star perform in a glittery virtual world might not be everyone’s cup of tea, it surely shows the potential of virtual events, and might even give us a glimpse of what the future of concerts could look like.

Livestreamed events are on the rise

Fortnite’s in-game concerts come at a time when livestreamed events and games are gaining in popularity. Especially the last year has seen artists take the virtual stage and stream live online to have viewers from all over the world attend through the web. While livestreaming events has only been gaining traction recently, the game industry has already been making use of that technology for a while. Livestreaming platform Twitch was introduced in 2011, allowing gamers to stream their gaming sessions live online for others to watch. The concept took off: with over 140 million monthly active users, Twitch has become the biggest livestreaming platform, giving the international gaming community a space to share their passion.

This, however, is not the only area in which livestreaming has been popular. It has also made it into the iGaming sector, where it allows online casinos to offer new immersive experiences to players from all around the world. By streaming a real dealer live onto the players’ devices as they play casino games such as roulette and blackjack, some of the best online casinos in South Africa, for instance, which have been reviewed and rated by experts, offer an immersive casino experience in the comfort of players’ homes. The trend of offering such experiences to users at home has now spread into different areas, as all sorts of events can now be attended through livestreams online. For instance, symphony orchestras from around the globe are streaming live from their concert halls while musicians broadcast their concerts live on social media and livestreaming platforms.

In-game concerts and their huge potential

Now, in-game concerts are taking this trend to the next level. By offering spectacularly immersive virtual events, attending a concert from the comfort of your home has never been this exhilarating. There are several characteristics and opportunities that set in-game concerts apart from simply livestreaming an event. For users, it’s a highly interactive and immersive experience that they can enjoy together with millions of users while dancing together on the virtual dance floor. This is something no real-life event could ever pull off. Moreover, in-game concerts allow for astronomical experiences through mind-blowing special effects such as a massive hologram of a rapper and psychedelic bursts of color or a skyscraper-high pop star with wings in a candy-colored world. Such events don’t just offer spectacular experiences to viewers, but also a great opportunity for musicians to perform for a completely new audience they would otherwise not reach. With millions of viewers already tuning in, the potential of such events has already been proven.

Fortnite has introduced a new way to hold virtual concerts that has audiences attend gigantic events with millions of people online. They haven’t been around for long, yet Epic Games has been able to raise the bar with each of their Fortnite in-game concerts. It is only a matter of time until we’ll see where this trend will take us. But it is very likely we are already getting a glimpse of what virtual events of the future might look like.

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About the Author

Dr. Jerry Doby Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.