The emote leak isn’t overly complicated, it’s only the responses… wow, the responses are really the plot. A major cultural debate is taking place in real-time. The fandom was immediately split into two large sections. The left side was occupied by the optimists, the visionaries, and those who were asking for ‘Sweet Victory’ to be played. They were alluding to the rock-solid ballad from the Band Geeks episode that has become a meme anthem over time. User ‘Mac McAllister’ succinctly said, “Hopefully it’s sweet victory.” The same was the sentiment across the board. It is the zenith of SpongeBob hipness and the release of it as either a jam track or an emote in Fortnite would be an instant classic. For instance, just fantasize that doing the griddy is so last season. After a Victory Royale, doing the ‘Sweet Victory’ saxophone solo? That’s the new flex.

On the contrary… the opposite side exists. The side that loves chaos and memes and is mentioning the name ‘Big Guy.’ If you are not acquainted with the reference, it is the odd distorted “BIG GUYYY” audio from one of the SpongeBob episodes that has become an internet-wide phenomenon and is now included in all classes. The comment section was blowing up with it. The user ‘TheFengMin’ simply commented, “Big guyyyy” followed by heart emojis and ‘realjaayshot’ predicted, “this is probably Big Guy 🫠.” This sparked a whole mini-thread where gamers like ‘Sheep’ and ‘DoofEvil’ were arguing whether ‘Big Guy’ was the “left path” or the “secret middle path” in this case. It is an amusing and subtle niche internet humor mingling with the big game, and it is exactly the kind of weird energy that Fortnite is loving.

And of course, the speculation did not end there. Some players were hinting that it might be connected to something less thrilling. “Nothing to be excited about.. it’s just a sidekick 🥀,” lamented user ‘RIPTWITTA’, referring to the new Sidekick feature. Others, such as ‘Eric205490’, brought up past disappointments: “You said that about Kpop Hunters and no emotes ever came out except for Zoey.” So, it is a fair amount of skepticism mixed with the hype. Epic has teased things before which took a long time to materialize. But the intense volume of the chatter makes this feel unique.

Then, riding on the back of the speculation, ShiinaBR themselves came back with a more extensive leak: “SPONGEBOB ‘SWEET VICTORY’ JAM TRACK REVEALED. SIDEKICKS, VEHICLE, AND MORE DROPPING TONIGHT.” Wow, If that’s right, then it’s not just an emote. We’re talking a full-blown SpongeBob mini-event. A jam track means that it is theoretically possible to have the entire ‘Sweet Victory’ song being played in the game. That’s gigantic. A vehicle? Please let it be either the Patty Wagon or the Invisible Boatmobile. The “AND MORE” part is doing quite a bit of heavy lifting, suggesting possible skins or back blings. However, the emphasis, at least from the initial viral tweet, is quite firmly on that emote.

The creativity in the replies is just mind-blowing. A gamer, ‘Sad_default’, launched into a legendary rant: “Whoever is the owner of the white sedan you left your lights on. Womp womp womp womp womp womp WOMP ooooooooowampppp is the only emote i wanna see.” Absolute poetry. Another, ‘yodelayhehoooo’, pleaded, “please tell me it’s eating a Krabby Patty,” together with a very apt GIF. The community is not just a spectator waiting for the event to happen; they are the ones who are writing the script for what they want this crossover to be.

So what does it all signify? It signifies that PlayStation is, yet again, about to directly connect with an enormous source of pop culture nostalgia and modern internet meme magic. Be it the triumphant ‘Sweet Victory’ or the absurdist SpongeBob reference, whichever way Epic has gone with this crossover it is sure that the players will be enjoying it on Xbox.