Fortnite Festival to collaborate with Hatsune Miku ESPN

After weeks of rumors and leaks, Epic Games announced a Fortnite and Hatsune Miku collaboration for the music game's seventh season, which begins on Jan. 14, 2025. The vocaloid star is Fortnite Festival's Icon for the music game's seventh season, with a selection of themed rewards and some of the most popular songs featuring Miku.

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Vocaloids are voice synthesizer programs typically attached to anime-style avatars. Crypton Future Media popularized vocaloid programs in the mid-2000s with its first two "singers," Kaito and Meiko, before releasing Hatsune Miku in 2007. Miku has since featured in over six rhythm video games and over 100,000 songs, many from new and independent songwriters who licensed Crypton's vocaloid program for their first pieces.

One of those was the indie rock group Supercell, a pop-rock band that formed in 2007 and is still active in the Japanese music scene. "World is Mine," one of their debut hits, features on Fortnite Festival's Hatsune Miku tracklist, along with "Miku" from Anamanaguchi and Daisy 2.0 from rapper Ashnikko. Epic Games said video creators can monetize their work featuring these tracks for the first seven days following the season's debut, during which they shouldn't receive take-down notices for copyright infringement.

Fortnite Festival's paid rewards track unlocks several Miku-themed cosmetics, including Brite Hatsune Miku, an outfit inspired by Fortnite's Brite Bomber and the game's llama mascot, and the Neku Hatsune Miku outfit, which comes with a Lego variant for those who play Lego Fortnite. The pass also includes three Miku-style guitars and, at the end, Sawtowne's "M@GICAL☆CURE! LOVE ♥ SHOT" track, which premiered in March 2024 and has since accrued over 13 million views on YouTube alone.

Also included in Fortnite Festival's seventh season is a new set of battle stage modes that lets players choose which specific parts of a song they want to practice and compete in -- vocals, drums, lead vocals, and bass. Starting with this season, up to four people can play Fortnite Festival together on the same console, though Epic didn't say whether it plans to add local multiplayer support to PC as well. Fortnite Festival players can also use their instruments as back bling -- Epic's term for backpacks and satchels -- in Fortnite's battle royale modes.

Epic also plans Hatsune Miku skins for player characters in Fortnite's battle royale mode, though the company hasn't revealed them yet.