Fortnite Live

Overview

Fortnite Live refers to a two-day festival that took place in Norwich, England that was intended to be based on Fortnite. However, the festival, which was not officially endorsed by Fortnite studio Epic Games, reportedly went disastrously, with underwhelming attractions and massive lines and wait times. The poor reception led to demands for refunds and a lawsuit from Epic Games to the organizers of the event.

Background

Fortnite Live was held on February 16th and 17th in Norwich, England.^[1] It was organized by Exciting Events^[2] and billed itself as “the ultimate Fortnite Battle Royale!” Advertised were activities like dance battles, archery and rock-climbing, "big-screen broadcasts of YouTubers and banks of PCs available to play Fortnite on."^[1] Over 2,800 children attended the event, and tickets were £12-20 (USD $15-25).

Developments

Attendees expressed disappointment in the event soon after the first day began. Twitter user @marc0835^[3] tweeted an image of the event's rock climbing wall, reporting "1 climbing wall between 3000+ children. 4 go karts between the same amount, nobody dressed up as characters, people still queuing 2hrs after gates open. Absolutely awful" (shown below, left). User @jvpclerk tweeted an image of the festival's "cave experience," describing it as "a truck with a tarpaulin lobbed over the top and a plastic slide stuck to the back for £3" (shown below, right).

Exciting Events director Shaun Lord stated that the problems with queueing were due in part to eight staff members out of nineteen not showing up for work.^[2] He claimed to give refunds to all who asked, but also stated, "“There are a lot of people who have told me they have had a fantastic time and their kids have thoroughly enjoyed it. We will take everybody’s feedback into consideration and we will act on it.”

Epic Games sued the organizers of Fortnite Live, saying:^[4]

“The quality of our player experience is incredibly important to us, whether it’s inside the game or at official public events like last year’s Fortnite Pro-Am. Epic Games was not in any way associated with the event that took place in Norwich and we’ve issued a claim against the organisers in the high court of London.”

Shortly after the lawsuit was announced, Exciting Games went into liquidation.^[5] In a statement, Shaun Lord said:

“These proceedings by Epic Games has had a catastrophic impact on the company’s ability to trade, which has forced Exciting Events Limited to cease all trading activities immediately and the director of Exciting Events will now seek to limit the losses to third parties as far as possible.”

Search Interest

External References