Fortnite hosted its largest in-game gathering yet on Thursday night as 12.3 million concurrent players logged into the battle royale video game for rapper Travis Scott’s Astronomical event. Scott teamed with developer Epic Games for the unique in-game event, which featured a towering, virtual version of the rapper and an extravagant visual performance of his new single “Astronomical” in Fortnite’s world.
The collaboration is the latest in a line of recent entertainment crossovers in the massively popular video game. Last year, Lucasfilm and J.J. Abrams introduced Star Wars-themed content to Fortnite ahead of the launch of The Rise of Skywalker in theaters, while in February 2019 DJ Marshmello similarly hosted a concert in-game which drew more than 10 million concurrent players.
Scott’s performance, however, marks record attendance for an in-game event, further solidifying Fortnite as a leading social platform, not just a video game, as Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has often referred to it.
