Washington Post (09/11/20) Park, Gene
"Fortnite" game developer and promoter Epic Games pushed on with the kickoff of a three-week virtual concert series with live performances this past weekend, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. In anticipation of the Spotlight series, Epic built a "state-of-the-art studio space in Los Angeles" in which artists perform for an in-game audience. "It's really ... wanting to take the production quality and all the things we can do in music to the next level, and have a regular heartbeat of live music events within 'Fortnite,'" said head of global partnerships Nate Nanzer. "It's this very lean-forward, engaged social experience. It's not like watching a stream at home or on another platform." The studio is an extended reality set, which can generate real-time graphics for a virtual environment projected on light-emitting diode displays, giving events more of a live production feel with video elements from a concert tour or music video. Nanzer said Epic is not entering the live music and events arena for monetization purposes, but rather "because we want to continue to evolve 'Fortnite' into really being a platform where there's all sorts of experiences I can come to enjoy with my friends."
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