Ariana Grande’s Fortnite tour had been in the works for years

It’s hard to overstate how weird it is Fortnite is. At one point, while I was waiting for the game’s Ariana Grande virtual concert this weekend, three identical versions of Rick from Rick and morty surrounded me and started dancing. Later, I passed by a pair of Marshmellos lying in identical yellow bean bags. The first show I went to, I dressed as Travis Scott; later I wore a Toronto Raptors jersey and had a dancing baby Groot strapped to my back.

FortniteThe commercial crash of, where seemingly every fictional world collides with real-world celebrities in a battle royale game, can be off-putting at times. But it also leads to some extremely cool moments, especially when it comes to live events. And Ariana Grande’s concert wasn’t just another thrilling live music experience – it also built on Fortnitethe story in a fascinating way.

For a game about falling on a colorful island with the intention of killing people, Fortnite has a surprising story, largely due to developer Epic constantly experimenting. Players who stayed a while will remember key moments that shaped the game, such as when a mysterious cube rolled around the island, or when a rocket was launched and slashed the sky, or this time a black hole has given birth to a whole new map. These moments can even make all of the game’s licensed aspects of the game eerily natural, like when the island was inundated with iconic Marvel locations.

Ariana Grande’s tour was like the culmination of this kind of integrated storytelling. While previous concerts like Marshmello and Travis Scott were unique experiences, the Big Event was linked to multiple aspects of Fortnite. Right now the game is in the midst of an alien invasion. There are new sci-fi weapons to play with, flying saucers that suck players in, and a massive mothership that hovers above the island. Before players even knew a concert was taking place, one of those saucers parked just above the center of the map and projected a holographic countdown teasing something big on August 6.

Once things started the event was different from the past Fortnite concerts, because it was not just about music. Even before Ariana Grande appeared, players were led through a portal, where they saw glimpses of some of these big in-game events, like the erupting volcano. What followed was a series of mini-game-style experiences: players glided down a paint-covered slide, bounced into a mellow world straight out of The Lorax, and flew a plane to shoot down the old Fortnite the raid boss, the Storm King.

Finally, in a starlit dark room, an imposing Grande appeared, taking players to an extremely surreal world. There were giant floating bubbles in the sky, a ride on a glittering llama, an MC Escher-style castle, and finally the pop star emerging from a crack in the ground to smash all of her fans with a jeweled hammer.

It was very funny. But more importantly, he inherently felt Fortnite. From the way the tour was advertised, to the extraterrestrial connections and icons Fortnite moments and images, that was another part of the game’s ever-growing myth. Only this time with a pop star involved. Grande even looked like a Fortnite character, with bright white eyes and a dress made of glittering shards of glass. (You can, of course, purchase a skin so you can play like her in the game.) And now that the tour is over, there is still an in-game questline for players to dig into.

Earlier this year, Epic Creative Director Donald Mustard described Fortnite as “an opportunity to almost create a new medium”. He meant that the game and its scale offered a chance to tell stories in a new way; Fortnite doesn’t have a plot or traditional characters, but instead uses live events and its ever-changing world as tools to create a long-lasting narrative. Periodically, almost every aspect of the game has focused on storytelling, even the copious licensed links. In Fortnite, there is little difference between Galactus attacking the island and Ariana Grande showing up to perform. In this game, a concert is no longer just a concert: it’s lore.