It’s currently the most popular game in the world. Now it partners with sportswear giants Adidas and Nike in attempts to bridge the gap between digital and physical fashion.

Fortnite, an online game, launched by Epic Games in July 2017 available on almost all platforms amasses an impressive 250 million players all over the world. The game is free to play but offers the players to buy e.g. additional gear outfits and weapons – something that doesn’t affect the gameplay in itself, but has turned the platform into a pure cash cow. Fortnite offers all players a fully functional game at no cost yet the game earned record $2.4bn in 2018, the ‘most annual revenue of any game in history’.

In May 2019 Nike decided to tap into its virtual fashion success offering exclusive Nike Air Jordan outfits which can be purchased via the in-game shop. The bundle includes two outfits, called Grind and Clutch, and include the iconic Nike Air Jordan 1s trainers.

Furthermore, in August 2019, Fortnite megastar, “Ninja” – a professional gamer with over fourteen million followers on Twitch.tv, announced a multi-year partnership with Adidas. Tyler “Ninja” Blevin earned his fame from becoming one of the world’s best players of “Fortnite: Battle Royale”. Fame that now earns him more than $500,000 a month. Ninja probably hits a new mark for how quickly a professional video gamer can rise to celebrity status. Adidas does not yet reveal many details of what the partnership with this mass influencer actually entails but that it might lead to products “in either the physical or virtual world.” This announcement came shortly after a few other sports brands announced similar fashion partnerships this year, bringing established sportswear brands into the world of e-sports.

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