On Fortnite's Travis Scott Concert
In October, I wrote a brief summary of the strategy behind Fortnite’s shocking “black hole” event. Here is a quick summary of my thoughts on Fortnite’s Travis Scott live concert. It is a text-based reproduction of my April 26 tweetstorm
1/ The Travis Scott x Fortnite event is commonly understood in comparison to prior Fortnite events, but instead it needs to be viewed as part of Fortnite’s testing and experimentation process/journey. It is technically less impressive than prior events, but creatively much bigger
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2/ At its core, TS is an interactive cut-scene. Players can’t “affect” what’s happening, but unlike playback video, the experience is in engine and thus you have some control over your character (think of what you can/can’t do on a rollercoaster). Games have had this for decades.
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3/ What’s new is that the experience isn't game-like, lacks game-like goals. Instead, it's social, about art. Marshmello was, too. But it was basically a programmed character/area within Fortnite's map. There was a stage + lightshow, but it was like a ride in a mall or side quest
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4/ Travis was a fully designed, immersive experience. The stage disappeared right away, with players taken to brand new places, with different special effects (e.g. altered gravity). It was a guided experience/story, like a concert, but far more was possible as it wasn't 'real'
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5/ This, too, wasn’t new. Fortnite Season 8 finale brought players to a new world with new physics as part of a story. But that was part of the game & MUCH shorter. TS was a purely art-centric experience, likely involving many more creatives and premiered brand new music
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6/ In other ways, Travis was less ambitious. Travis had FAR more complex animations + routines than Marshmello, but they were pre-made. The Star Wars event with JJ Abrams & @geoffkeighley was a live reproduction of their IRL moves and voice. MUCH higher technical risk and hurdle
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7/ Notably, Travis Scott was also capped at 50 concurrent users per experience (Marshmello, Star Wars, finales were at 100). The overall cap reflects the technical limits to the Internet and local processors. Reduction may be due to complexity of the Travis event v. Marshmello
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8/ But Travis still needs to be put in context of EVERYTHING else Fortnite is doing. In April, it launched a live movie theater showing Quibi originals, for example. In the fall, Fortnite’s “black out” represented an enormous transmedia social experience.
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9/ Turning Fortnite ‘off’ is the easiest thing the team can do, technically speaking. But it was also one of the boldest and least predictable creative moves. It wasn't about what was in Fortnite, but what was around it (the press, social media, Twitch broadcasts, etc)
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10/ Ultimately, Fortnite doesn't want to be an event producer. Epic is a game engine company (Fortnite too). These tests are about finding out what's interesting & viable, financing R&D that’s also great marketing, showing the world what THEY can build on Unreal/Fortnite Creative
11/ This isn’t a critique of Travis. It’s actually so good BECAUSE it is an expression of all the tests that have come before, even if more of a creative progression than technical. Also, wow: they did this mostly work-from-home. That itself precludes live motion capture, btw
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12/ Timing is important. Countless developers (mostly in Asia) are working on virtual performance. Companies like WaveXR are building businesses around this
And in COVID, real artists are performing streamed concerts, but they lack a sense of atmosphere, aren't really 'shared'
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13/ Today, anyone can make a Travis-like concert in Unreal (as Fortnite did), and to a lesser extent, in Fortnite Creative Mode. You don’t NEED Epic's help! You can even use their 300MM+ user base/1.6B+ connection social graph. But folks don't. Travis shows the potential/need
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14/ It helps to have Fortnite promote/operate an event. But it's difficult to think of what else an artist can do to generate more press or find more new fans than this. During or after COVID. You just can't "buy" millions of people spending ten minutes fully immersed in your music
15/ These events are all part of Fortnite marketing not just the game to users, but its potential to businesses and creators. The era of growth hacking via SEO, podcasts and referral codes is over.
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16/ This process is also very Disneyland. Walt proudly boasted about WED's participation in the World Fair, its work helping build complex mechanics for third parties, etc., all as part of their R&D process. These events help Fortnite learn what works+ build its tech and skillset
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17/ No one else is doing more here from a platform perspective. Roblox and Minecraft have far greater creativity diversity in their worlds (and more creators), but THEY aren't leading the process. Fortnite HQ is constantly seeking out what they can do next, discover, seed
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18/ The focus on 'what's next' is also why, for all the success of Marshmello and the Star Wars event, we haven’t seen them redo these events with new musicians or IP - let alone start a related events business. Many have doubtlessly offered tens of millions of dollars to do so
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19/ But Epic/Fortnite's goals are much, much bigger than even being the biggest, most expansive game the world has ever seen. And to achieve these goals, it NEEDS the rest of the world to invest in digital experiences, not just partner with/hire Fortnite
20/ To clarify, the above means we're likely to see more mashups and remixes of these events. Experiments! We will see massive characters powered by live mocap performances with live audio performances. Can also imagine this happening in the game itself as part of a finale
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21/ We saw giant titans fight on the map before during a finale, for example. And we've seen players choose what happens during these finals and what items are unlocked during it. Imagine a version of this played by live actors, taking cues from what players are doing in realtime
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22/ Epic continues to buy companies that can power these experiences (e.g. 3Lateral), plus others focused on how these experiences are collaboratively enjoyed (e.g. Houseparty), all the while it learns more about what's fun.
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23/ Also: the music video for the song Travis' premiered in his Fortnite event is also based in it (HERE)
And he has undoubtedly sold millions in Fortnite skins, emotes and other virtual items in anticipation of and after the event (this would have a rev share)
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24/ Neat Q: Does COVID change how we categorize these events? Marshmello was mostly seen as a game experience w/ game-based revenue
But w/ COVID, all concerts are virtual. What difference does Travis Scott being digitally rendered v digitally reproduced make? Both are concerts.
Related Essay: The Impact of COVID-19 on Video Gaming and Our Virtual Lives
25/ This reiterates fact that "gaming" is just one application of technology (e.g. engines) that were once built just for games, but are increasingly used to drive all aspects of our lives. Their use doesn't define experience (Mandalorian isn't a game!)
Matthew Ball (@ballmatthew)
