Now the latest Fortnite collaboration was announced by Epic Games, and it… is with Kanye West and his “Violent Crimes” song from the album Ye. And with this one, just like you might imagine, people were really upset. Seriously.
The emote is offered free in a promotion where you need to make your first purchase on the Fortnite website, but not in the in-game store. The “Violent Crimes Emote” had the Fortnite character doing a slow and moody dance to the intro of the Kanye West track. That’s when things started to get clearer and messier.
Some players even went ahead to proclaim it the “worst emote of all time.” That should really give you a clue of the unfiltered feedback on Twitter. One user named @doIliestra simply stated, “this the worst emote i’ve ever seen,” whereas @DrakomanZX was more explicit in expressing his opinion by saying, “trash emote”. Then there are the polite versions.
Some more entertainments aside, here come the controversies. Several players have been bringing all of Kanye’s current… well, everything. @JohnDraw62 gifted us with this zinger: “Second time they added something related to a n4zi into the game” which is… yikes! That’s a pretty serious accusation.
@Pixeletoh then entered with “miku would NOT dance to a nazi’s music,” which, okay, is kind of funny, but also somewhat worrying? Then @Bobbybrine_ reacted, “He also sold nazi ideology,” to somebody else. This is exactly the kind of thing that makes us start asking uncomfortable questions for something that is supposed to be fun.
Even those who actually like Kanye come out against it. @OBSDCC7 said, “The emote itself sucks shit but I got it for the song since it’s probably the only thing Kanye related we will EVER get,” which is dedication for sure- buying something you think is trash just because it might be removed later? That collection mentality is strong.
Players just seem confused over the choice of song. @ryanturtle77 wondered, “Any song and they pick this one?” Kanye has a hundred bigger songs they could have chosen from. Violent Crimes is definitely not one of his bigger hits, if anything.
Then there was @laveritanera splintering into another debate about something entirely unrelated that involves Kai Cenat’s skin being 1800 instead of 800, but wait, that’s a whole other thing. What were we talking about? Oh yeah, Kanye.
That said, a few players are actually defending it. @ARTtony_Chopper commented, “I don’t care that Kanye is losing his marbles right now this is pretty sweet,” and shared the emote video. So I guess that means at least one fan.
Most of the reactions, however, are quite negative. @Mont0ya013 pretty much summed this up: “W song, shitty emote,” and @chromilla said, “Decent song, meh emote.” So it seems that there are a few who don’t dislike the song per se but hate the way it has been introduced into the game.
There’s also this ongoing joke about scrambling for the emote before Kanye says something insane and it gets taken down. @SpotUGotU: “Get this emote before Kanye say some racist shet and they permanently remove it 😂,” which… yeah, sounds about right with recent history.
What’s truly interesting is the split in the community. It’s considered mid by some and outright trash by others. @FuecocoIsBetter states in one tweet, “Mid Emote, Mid Song,” then goes on to say in another, “Worst part of the set btw the rest is actually peak,” so I guess that means there are parts of this update people actually like?
This mixed reception is not doing Epic any favors. It has made the company appear to have missed the opportunity to understand this collaboration. Perhaps putting Kanye in a game that is being played by millions of kids might not quite sit well from a PR perspective since all the recent happenings. Then again Fortnite has never shied away from controversy.
Remember when they brought in all those Marvel characters and everyone freaked out? Or the Travis Scott concert that actually broke the internet? But this one feels different-these are not just matters of gaming culture but rather serious real-world issues.
At the end of the day, it’s just an emote. You don’t have to take it if you don’t want to. But since it’s free with your first web purchase, odds are a great many will pick it up just because it’s free. Then again, they might not ever get around to using it, as, according to the player base’s judgment, it’s pretty darn bad.
The question is whether Epic will do anything about the concerns being raised by players about working alongside someone who’s found growing controversy lately. Probably, no-world-lies-they-never-comment-on-this-otherwise. But wherever prevents-talk-is-happening-it’s-not-the-good-kind-of-talk that usually marks a good update for Fortnite.
So yeah, if you want a kind of dull emote set to a Kanye song that may or may not align with your personal values, go ahead and make a purchase on the Fortnite website. Otherwise, stick to floss or orange justice like the rest of us normal folks.
