Record 12m tune into Travis Scott Fortnite concerts

More than 12 million Fortnite players participated in the premiere of Travis Scott’s Astronomical, the online shooter’s second major in-game concert event, developer Epic Games has revealed.

Announced earlier this week, Astronomical comprises five ‘tour’ dates, with two encore performances (at 3pm and 10pm GMT on Saturday 25 April) still to go at press time. The pre-recorded 10-minute performance – which saw a digital avatar of Scott perform ‘Highest in the Room’, ‘Sicko Mode’ and new song ‘The Scotts’ – won praise from players for its psychedelic visuals, which included an exploding stage and Scott’s avatar appearing as a giant bestriding the game’s scenery, as well as an astronaut and a cyborg.

https://twitter.com/NickEh30/status/1253539772473245696

After the show, Scott tweeted: “Honestly, today was one of the most inspiring days. Love every single one of you guys.”

The show’s visuals included an exploding stage and Scott’s avatar appearing as a giant bestriding the game’s scenery

In addition to the ten-minute performance, players who saw at least one Astronomical show will a unique in-game item, the Astroworld Cyclone Glider, with Travis Scott-themed outfits and ‘skins’ additionally available to purchase.

The 12.3m people who attended Scott’s show exceeds the 10m concurrent players who are believed to have attended the first in-game Fortnite concert, by EDM DJ Marshmello, last February.

A global gaming phenomenon, the candy coloured, tween-friendly multiplayer shooter has more than 250 million registered players, with a peak of more than 75m monthly active users.

As IQ reported in March, the Marshmello show opened the floodgates for live music in gaming, with rock bands Korn (in AdventureQuest) and the Offspring (in World of Tanks), DJs Ekali (in Minecraft), Reggie Watts and Blasterjaxx and EDM label Monstercat (in Sansar) among those to have organised large virtual concerts since.

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