We all the miss the days of prime era Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and after years of outcries for a new entry, a challenger has emerged. It isn’t an entirely new entry into either of those franchises, but Fortnite Festival comes from Rock Band studio Harmonix, and delivers the exact kind of rhythm game thrills we’ve been looking for all this time. And it is going to get even better, because Epic Games is looking to implement support for instrument controllers.
Following the launch of Fortnite Festival, Epic Games confirms that instrumental controllers will be useable, just not right now. In an update coming next year, the developer says it is a “priority” for the development, and in the works as we speak. Now, while Epic Games doesn’t specify what instrument controllers will work with Fortnite Festival, we speculate that support for existing Rock Band peripherals will factor into play for PS5 and Xbox. Given that Fortnite Festival is from the creators of Rock Band, it’d make sense to retrofit accessories that work for Rock Band 4, which is still live and active to this day.
Fortnite is already one of the best battle royale games on PS5 and Xbox, but that isn’t enough for Epic Games. No, Fortnite is more than just cranking 90s and gulping Chug Jugs now, as new modes like Rocket Racing and Lego Fortnite propel Fortnite up the ranks of the best multiplayer games out there. The Fortnite Festival song list is already slammed full of popular hits, spanning from modern day bangers from The Weeknd and Billie Eilish, to classic 90s slacker rock from Weezer.
There’s even Queens of the Stone Age in there, which just feels surreal to pair in a sentence with Fortnite, yet here we are. With controller support confirmed, we wonder whether Epic Games will go the extra mile and just release completely new accessories for players to buy. Given that Fortnite’s player count is surpassing the records set by the recent the Fortnite OG season, the demand is certainly there to properly resurrect the market that Guitar Hero and Rock Band dominated in the early 2010s.
The Weekend is the mode’s first headlining act, with more set to come in future updates. But who exactly will take the stage next is under wraps, though we wager it could be Lady Gaga, as previous leaks purported that the Academy Award and multiple Grammy winner would come to the game. It is likely that akin to The Weeknd, Gaga would gain a Fortnite ICON Series skin, joining other celebrities such as Ariana Grande, Lewis Hamilton and YouTuber Jimmy ‘MrBeast’ Donaldson.
Fortnite continues to be one of the best PS5 games and best Xbox games out there, and 2024 is looking especially bright for it.