Friday ‘Nite is a weekly Fortnite column wherein Mark Delaney takes a more in-depth take a look at present occasions within the extensive world of Fortnite, with a particular emphasis on the sport’s plot, characters, and lore.

It is nearly August. Right now final 12 months, the Fortnite Ariana Grande Rift Tour was just about already a publicly recognized reality due to leaks from one heck of a leaker. By August 1, 2021, we had the whole Rift Tour schedule straight from Epic Video games. On related schedules in years previous, we would additionally seen Travis Scott and Marshmello take the digital stage in Epic’s burgeoning metaverse.

However in the event you’re ready for a Fortnite live performance for Summer season 2022, as of proper now, nothing is confirmed–it’s not even concretely leaked but, not like final 12 months’s present. As a substitute, what now we have are a number of whispers and perhaps an evidence as to why a live performance, if it is taking place in any respect, is coming a bit later this 12 months. Rounding up rumors pertaining to performers corresponding to Billie Eilish, Juice Wrld, and Girl Gaga, here is the whole lot we all know to this point a few Fortnite Summer season 2022 live performance.

Fortnite live performance 2022 leaks and rumors

Every part we find out about a Fortnite live performance for this summer time comes all the way down to all kinds of various leaks and rumors. They can not actually be mentioned in a single breath as a result of they’ve completely different factors of origin, so let’s break down the three main rumors one after the other, within the order wherein they appeared on-line.

Why it could be Girl Gaga

A Girl Gaga Fortnite live performance is definitely the oldest of the rumors, courting again to final spring when the Epic vs. Apple courtroom battle was taking place. Within the discovery section, onlookers got a exceptional variety of revelations from each side of the lawsuit. On the Epic aspect, we realized a ton about future Fortnite plans, together with the NBA crossover, the LeBron James pores and skin, in addition to a couple of music collabs talked about by title: Ariana Grande, J Balvin, and Girl Gaga.

We have already seen each Grande and Balvin come to the sport as skins–plus Grande obtained her magical Rift Tour, in fact, so it stands to cause that Gaga’s time is coming quickly.

Why it may not be Girl Gaga

Whereas Ariana Grande obtained a live performance and an in-game pores and skin, J Balvin did not get the identical degree of fanfare. An emote that performs one in all his hits is cool, however that is the extent of his crossover with Fortnite. We are able to then fairly deduce that Girl Gaga may solely get one thing like a pores and skin too, not a full live performance occasion. Girl Gaga can be extra of a millennial icon, whereas Fortnite primarily targets Gen Z.

Why it could be Billie Eilish

Billie Eilish might be the favourite amongst fans–or at the least the one most followers are wishing for. Youthful than Gaga and completely beloved by the best age group, Billie can be one of many world’s greatest artists presently and fits Epic’s pursuit of artists on or above the extent of those that got here earlier than her. Donald Mustard, Epic CCO and frequent teaser on-line, additionally shared a photograph from a Billie Eilish live performance earlier this 12 months. Mustard does not tweet many issues that aren’t hints of some type, so it is price noting.

Why it may not be Billie Eilish

To be honest, Mustard was taking his daughters to the Billie present, and he is allowed to share an image from the gang. So I could also be studying into issues an excessive amount of, however I do not lose sight of that. Another excuse to suspect Billie will not be the main target of this 12 months’s live performance: Ariana Grande’s Rift Tour was a ton of enjoyable, however Epic by no means shared attendance numbers prefer it did with the 2020 Travis Scott Astronomical present. As a result of firms are so usually obsessive about unrelenting development, Epic could have elected to maintain the Rift Tour totals non-public in the event that they fell under Scott’s present.

If that is the case, it may very well be as a result of Ariana tends to be extra of a ladies and non-male icon, whereas the Fortnite neighborhood as a complete is made up of many extra younger boys and males, in keeping with a 2021 demographics examine. If Epic needs the subsequent Fortnite live performance to get again to breaking information, it could look to attract in one other performer that’s higher attuned to the sport’s participant base.

Why it could be Juice Wrld

The late rapper Juice Wrld was very talked-about earlier than his premature loss of life in 2019, and an HBO documentary concerning the younger artist put him on much more folks’s radar. We might not count on Epic to supply an in-game live performance with a useless particular person, besides that the rapper’s supervisor retweeted the Season 3 launch trailer and has since spoken of a potential collaboration greater than as soon as, together with a time the place he advised he’d get in bother with Epic if he mentioned something extra on the topic.

As a result of Fortnite concert events contain pre-recorded variations of songs, there is not any cause Juice Wrld’s absence would current a lot of an issue, as long as his rights holders work on the deal all the identical.

Why it may not be Juice Wrld

Nicely, is not it apparent? On condition that Juice Wrld is deceased, it could be an ungainly promote for Epic. Does the loosey-goosey battle royale sport recognized well-known for dancing bananas need to soar into the difficult debate over utilizing a useless particular person’s likeness? Maybe Epic sees the chance to be a trailblazer, however the firm is in North Carolina, not Silicon Valley, so one has to marvel if they don’t seem to be the identical model of tech evangelists we could also be pondering of.

After the blended critiques of an elaborate stage projection of Tupac, usually mistakenly referred to as a hologram, placing on a present in 2012, is Epic keen to check its goodwill on a live performance from a rapper who died a lot too younger?

If not them, then who?

Fortnite usually suffers extra leaks than the Titanic, so it does not appear probably that the actual live performance would nonetheless be underneath wraps at Epic this late in the summertime, at the least not if it is coming in August. However then once more, there is not any assure it is going to are available August–or in any respect. The summer time schedule is unfolding later this 12 months, with the summer time occasion starting a number of weeks after it usually would.

Does that imply a live performance was additionally pushed again by a couple of weeks? It may, however given the relative quiet surrounding the overall concept of a Fortnite Summer season live performance in 2022, maybe it is most definitely that there is not any such live performance in any respect.

Nonetheless, if I used to be to imagine a live performance is going on however it’s none of these talked about above, who else matches the invoice? I’ve two guesses: The Weeknd or a Okay-pop group like BTS–both of whom are already within the sport through Icon Sequence emotes. They’re huge on a scale that competes with previous Fortnite concerts–arguably, both one would elevate the bar given their reputation.

For now, all we are able to do is wait, but when we nonetheless know nothing a couple of days from now, I am ready to leap on the practice of thought that Fortnite performers are resting their digital voices this summer time.