Just when you thought it might be safe to consume your Avengers content and Weezer albums the old-fashioned way—i.e. by not logging in to massively popular virtual Lord Of The Flies simulator Fortnite for some sort of bizarre exclusive event—J.J. Abrams is here to shatter that illusion once and for all. Abrams appeared (via a pre-recorded video message) at tonight’s Gamer Awards, announcing that the Epic online shooter will be playing host to an exclusive clip from his upcoming Star Wars movie, The Rise Of Skywalker, this Saturday.
As we noted above, this isn’t the first time that unstoppable pop culture juggernauts Fortnite and Disney have teamed up, with the ubiquitous video game debuting a playable version of Thanos ahead of the release of Infinity War a few years back. This new event will be accompanied by the usual digital lures, including downloadable Rey and Finn costumes. But Abrams is also promising to be in the game himself, hosting not just the exclusive clip, but also some kind of as-yet-unrevealed live event.
This isn’t the first time Epic has jammed a whole bunch of players onto its servers for this sort of virtual live event, either; more than 10 million people reportedly logged in to the game earlier this year to “attend” a Marshmello concert. It’s reminiscent of that old, brief period in which bands like U2 used to host events in Second Life, except without all the giant sentient penises getting in Bono’s way. It’s also a clear extension of Epic’s intent to move Fornite past being merely a game—as if it hadn’t already done so—and into the realm of a bona fide public platform.
Anyway, the event kicks off this Saturday at 1 p.m. Central; if you’re interested, be sure to rent a child from someone to show you how to log on.