Last weekend, Metallica took the virtual stage in Fortnite, but the event was more than just a heavy metal concert. It was part of a series of mode and content launches that lasted weeks, demonstrating the size and complexity the game has achieved. The Battle Royale has steadily evolved into a complete ecosystem of games and experiences, and the Metallica crossover may have been the most complex to date.
The concert was the culmination and resembled an interactive version of a heavy metal album cover. Players were taken in a sports car to a concert stage full of fire, then to a gothic bell tower, and finally to a battle with a threatening puppeteer. Like previous virtual concerts with Eminem and Ariana Grande, it was an attempt to blend the feeling of a live show with something fantastical. “It couldn’t just be crazy escapism,” says Daryl Atkins, executive creative director at Magnopus, the studio that designed the experience. “So we planned a journey that started with the real and then took us to an impossible place.”
According to Atkins, the starting point was trying to recreate the feeling of an authentic live show. “They are not a band with a high concept like Iron Maiden, with large visual elements that we could leverage and translate directly,” he explains. “Metallica is very down-to-earth, focusing on music and performance.” For this reason, the band was involved from the early stages of the design process, which included selecting the song list and providing motion capture footage for the developers to work with. The studio presented the initial idea with concept art, but from there, Magnopus had to figure out a lot on their own. “They gave us a lot of trust,” says Atkins.
The Metallica event was also an attempt to build on previous shows with more interactivity drawn from various Fortnite modes. Players raced in a car before traversing the tower platform, literally riding lightning, and picked up a weapon for a boss fight. This posed some design challenges. Unlike a traditional video game, players couldn’t fall behind, or they would miss being in the show with everyone else. “We have a dynamic respawn system to move the respawn point with the music,” says creative director Dan Taylor. “So if you die, you respawn at the correct point in the track. Players who are behind will be pushed forward, and those ahead will be pushed back. It balances everything in a pretty organic way.”
The concert was the centerpiece of a busy period for Fortnite. The game introduced its current Mad Max-inspired season in May, which teased the band’s appearance. But things really kicked off in mid-June when a Metallica guitar was added as a weapon in Battle Royale, a Metallica-themed race track appeared in Rocket Racing, and the band replaced Billie Eilish as the headliner in the Fortnite Festival musical mode. After the first concert, Epic launched a new mode called Reload, which had over 1 million players during the weekend.
This is a far cry from the simpler days when Marshmello appeared on stage. Fortnite is a more complex beast now, and every element, whether it’s a character appearance or a new mode, seems carefully planned. Emily Levy, director of strategic partnerships at Epic, says the goal is “to create moments that feel impactful and meaningful.” The latest concert was similar to how Eminem’s appearance was preceded by the Fortnite OG throwback, which brought back many players who had stopped playing. Currently, no moment in Fortnite exists in isolation.
By: Nestor Castillo, ForAllTechNews Director