Fortnite’s long-awaited ‘Big Bang’ live-event collaboration with Eminem concludes the end of the original (OG) season, and a spark towards a new era for battle royale.
On December 2nd, Epic Games hosted one of its largest live events known as “The Big Bang Event,” in preparation for Fortnite’s next Chapter and Season. Over 11 million players worldwide joined to partake in the experience including a lengthy amount of waiting time, up to two hours, for players in queue. In its entirety, the event has made itself worthy to set a position in video game history similar to Fortnite’s previous artist collaborations with Travis Scott, Ariana Grande, Marshmello, Kid Laroi, and now Eminem.
“When I first heard that they were bringing Eminem to Fortnite, I was extremely excited,” sophomore Riley Bryan said. “Personally, I know his massive impact and influence on the rap game, so I had high expectations for the event.”
Exclusive products were added to the virtual item shop including three special Eminem skins resembling the artist’s alter ego’s: Marshall Never More, Rap Boy, and famously known Slim Shady to all be a part of Fortnite’s celebrity icon series. In-game accessories such as pickaxes, back blings, gliders, and a special emote featuring one of the artist’s biggest hit songs, ‘The Real Slim Shady’ were all on sale for the Eminem x Fortnite collab.
“I was surprised to see three individual skins and other cosmetics to go along with them when they were in the item shop,” sophomore Patrick Bielot said. “I noticed that there wasn’t a skin specifically named Eminem, but that didn’t matter to me because all the skins were uniquely designed, even purchasing one myself.”
Before the event took place, Epic Games initially announced and confirmed the return of the ‘OG Fortnite’ season to commemorate its first and earliest seasons back in 2017. The news set out a massive reaction amongst millions of players, influencing huge excitement across several platforms for Fortnite’s legendary comeback to OG. Fan favorites such as past items, vehicles, cosmetics, mechanics, and the first season one map all returned for a limited time.
“The OG season gave me an inexplicable amount of joy, because it was the Fortnite I played growing up,” said sophomore Ethan De Jesus. “It brought back a lot of memories and made me think of how I used to play with my friends back then.”
As a result, the amount of current and returning players increased to a soaring 44.7 million worldwide, and a record 102 million hours of gameplay according to Epic Games via Twitter. Players were satisfied to reconnect through the gaming experience yet heartbroken for the OG season’s official leave on December 2nd before the live event. Although the OG Fortnite reappeared for a brief period, it established a deep influence of nostalgia for all players and streamers and may make another return in 2024.
“Saying goodbye to the old locations like Salty Springs, Pleasant Park, and Tilted Towers was sad for me and the rest of the Fortnite community,” sophomore Vaidik Gajjar said. “Not only will I miss the OG locations, but also all the moments spent with friends as the OG season was very nostalgic.”
Minutes during intermission, Fortnite made it possible for players and streamers to connect with online friends through the party lobby before being welcomed with a live virtual countdown displayed on the screen. Players were drawn towards the suspense of anticipation and excitement as the counter finally reached zero, triggering the start of the event.
“When me and my friends were watching the countdown, all of us were nervous and excited at the same time,” sophomore Shravan Brahmbhatt said. “The OG season gave us a wonderful time, but we couldn’t wait for what the next chapter would offer.”
The Big Bang event was initiated by the catastrophic events of a meteor crashing towards the OG map and colliding with The Zero Point, eventually ripping and opening a tear in space and time. In a matter of a few seconds, players simultaneously departed from the map as a massive black hole engulfed the entire world of Fortnite into a cinematic experience involving cosmic visuals while traveling into supernatural voids across multiple dimensions and realities.
“I was in so much disbelief looking at all the wonderful space visuals and designs, especially when the world unfolded out into a huge void,” sophomore Om Chhibber said. “It was an amazing and surreal experience altogether.”
Players were then instantly thrust into the first world of LEGO as their characters transformed into a bricky form while touring the multiple biomes on gliders. Within the scene, it included villages with LEGO minifigures building structures, crafting materials, attacking monsters, and even the landscape being completely constructed out of LEGO all in a thrilling moment. Fortunately, the whole sequence served as a tease for Fortnite’s next biggest survival-adventure game mode that launched on December 7th: LEGO Fortnite.
“I used to play with LEGO’s a lot when I was younger and watching it becoming involved in Fornite was such an interesting yet unexpected combination,” sophomore Ronit Sheth said. I thought the game mode was gonna be a recreation of battle royale, but the Minecraft style of the game was cool too.”
After exploring the LEGO verse, a separate vortex pulled players to a world featuring competitive racing amongst enormous raceway tracks. Players quickly landed above the vehicles amidst the race and were lured into the fast-paced action while controlling their automobiles. The gameplay had classic car mechanics like drifting and speed boosting, but Fortnite decided to take a step further with the availability of wall-driving, clashing, and jump-thrusters altogether on the track. Soon later, the auto-racing world was revealed to be a new collaboration with Epic Games: Rocket League, and an additional game mode for Fortnite on December 8th: Rocket Racing.
“I have always been a huge fan of racing games, so Rocket Racing stood out to me a lot with its amount of interaction and flexibility it has for car racing,” Bryan said. “I had high hopes for another fun chapter and season for Fortnite.”
At the peak of the event, players and their squads were drawn into a music universe where Eminem made his debut appearance to perform a virtual concert for the finale. The American rapper’s alter ego, ‘Slim Shady’ slowly rose to the stage as the rhythm and beat from “Lose Yourself” queued in before rapping. Midway through the song, Eminem’s other alter ego, ‘Marshall Mathers’ towered over the players before immediately grabbing the stage to perform “Godzilla” featuring another famous rapper and singer, Juice WRLD.
“Me and my friends instantly freaked out when we finally saw Eminem on the stage,” Bielot said. “Epic Games made a good decision to choose two famous songs of his, and it was incredible how they managed to pull off such an amazing experience for everyone during the concert.”
For the first time in a Fortnite concert, players experienced a chart during “Lose Yourself,” which displayed on-screen with controls and mechanics similar to Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Just like LEGO and Rocket Racing, Epic Games intentionally made another teaser for their music game: Fortnite Festival on December 9th to get players involved in an upbeat style while hitting music notes to match the pace and rhythm for other new songs later to be added in the game mode.
“The concept of adding a rhythm based game mode is unexpected for a battle royale video game,” De Jesus said. “However, it was definitely fun playing the mode during the concert so it’s possible for it to be another success in Fortnite.”
The Big Bang event finally came to a close when players traveled through the galaxy one last time before floating alone in space to return to the lobby. Today, Epic Games’s committed passion to create fun across the world continues in Fortnite Chapter 5: Underground, where all players can now officially visit these worlds and experience the thrill again with friends. Fans worldwide remember the event as one of Fortnite’s best moments in videogame history, and will always look forward to its future collaborations.
“The whole thing was a sensational experience from start to finish. It was all a piece of art and I was fully hooked onto the event like I was in it,” Gajjar said. “This was surely, if not, one of the best live-events in Fortnite history.”
