Fortnite has, yet again, opened up the amber glow of the K-Pop item shop to bring back the AESPA emotes that the fans have been begging for. This update further continues the musical collaborations that have become so much a trend in the popular royal battle, making it yet another chance to virally scamper with the moves of the hit girl group.
Now, what does this K-Pop shop give to fans? Well, according to HYPEX, the trustworthy leaker, the announcement had stated that the “Magnetic” AESPA emote has been returned into the item shop along with more K-Pop-themed items. So, finally, those who had missed out on the dance moves last time will have a second opportunity to snag these slick moves for their locker. Judging by all this media hype, though, there seems to be genuine excitement about this news.
One ecstatic gamer screamed, “I KNEW IT THEY WILL PUT IT IN THE SHOP!!!” as another questioned, “oh my god???? how have i not seen this dance in shop yet,” showing just how long this emote has been awaited for. That excitement is so real. And honestly? Same.
It is not only the AEPSA items. It seems the shop is packing all kinds of K-Pop goodies, even as some players are finding emotes missing from the shop that they had wanted to purchase. One disappointed player tweeted, “‘Bye Bye Bye’ isn’t there AGAIN,” sad emoji plus broken heart emoji, hinting that while Epic Games may finally be giving us some of the greatest, some of the highly requested items are still being held out of rotation.
In the past year, the K-Pop theme inside Fortnite has steadily grown, with several groups getting emotes and cosmetics of their own. It has now turned into a way for music fans to represent themselves in the game, and honestly? There’s a crazy-awesome factor to watch a character break out inert K-Pop choreography right in the middle of a build battle.
Meanwhile, there has been a group of players for whom technical glitches seemed to have cast a gloom on the Fortnite experience. Multiple users were reporting “no sound in game since the update yesterday,” with one even going to say, “Fortnite on Xbox has NO sound!” The official Fortnite Status Twitter handle finally stepped in to respond and stated that, “Players on PC and PlayStation may have distorted audio when using spatial audio formats like Windows Sonic or Dolby Atmos” and suggested switching to stereo sound for the time being.
Reactions to the K-Pop shop range the gamut. One nearly broke the Twitter timeline with the words, “I worked 60 hours this week and this healed me,” which really is mood. Those little perks from gaming do help one get through a tough week.
Meanwhile, others are saying what’s not on the shop. A handful of comments did request “kpop demon hunter emotes” and “demon hunter emotes,” implying that there are still quite a few other musical collabs that have yet to hit the item shop. And one user quite literally asked, “any word on the demon hunter emotes?” suggesting the community is very plugged in when it comes to future announcements.
The financially relevant aspect certainly did not escape notice. In Portuguese, a Brazilian player tweeted about money not being there for skins and being tempted now by a full shop of K-Pop dances; a rough translation may be, “I don’t having money for the skins and they put a shop only with kpop in the dances”-a sentiment probably felt by a fair number of gamers watching their V-Bucks balances shrink.
The requests, however, are beginning to become quite specific. One player is hoping for the addition of the “I’M A RICH MAN” dance from AESPA; others are wondering about the coming of “Shape Up” and “Havana.” The community definitely has favorites and is loud and proud in telling Epic Games what it desires next.
Then again, the release timing of this K-Pop shop is making a strong contender for cause number one of other ongoing discussions. One player suggested, “golden is already falling off the charts slowly so it’s now or never,” thus hinting at another artist’s potential partnership and mixing that with real-world music charts and popularity as a precursor of future Fortnite integrations.
There is also quite some confusion in the comments about which emotes come from which artists, with folks debating if the “Touch” emote really belongs to AESPA, or another group going by the name Katseye. This back and forth is a slight glimpse into just how deep K-Pop knowledge goes into the Fortnite community and how dearly people care about getting the minute details right.
And these days, as Fortnite goes about blending in gaming with music culture, these sorts of themed shops have become events that players genuinely look forward to. Combining viral dances with collectible cosmetics and the social fame of flaunting your recently acquired emotes in a match makes up the perfect recipe of engagement that ensures players keep coming back.
Whether you’re a die-hard K-Pop fan or somebody who is just glad to see some good dances, there’s a little something for everybody in this item shop update. Uh, almost everybody, unless you’ve been holding your breath for “Bye Bye Bye” to return. In that case… maybe next time.
The thing about these rotations is that they keep the game fresh and constantly provide players with reasons to check the shop daily. And with their numerous collaborations that cut across various musical genres and pop culture phenomena, Fortnite really has mastered the art of remaining relevant through strategic partnerships. This K-Pop shop is no exception and shows how the game considers experience to be dynamic and part of current trends beyond just gaming.
That ay be one step closer to giving AESPA vibes to your Fortnite locker. Just a thought, though- if you are rocking Xbox or PC, check your audio settings first. I mean, what use is an awesome dance emote when you can’t even hear the music properly?
