Fortnite and Nike Launch ‘Airphoria’
With 500 million registered players and futuristic immersive effects, Fortnite is catapulting Nike — and potentially other financially robust fashion brands — into a gateway to innovation.
Having first joined forces in 2019 for a Jordan brand initiative, Fortnite and Nike are now releasing an Air Max-themed universe, making the sneaker giant one of the first brands to use the months-old Unreal Editor for Fortnite.
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Gamers will be reminded of the sneaker giant via giant orange Nike shoe boxes emblazoned with the Swoosh logo and Air Max-themed environs. They can also buy the Airie and Maxxed Out Max Outfits in the Fortnite Item Shop and co-branded limited-run T-shirts via Nike’s e-commerce site in North America. All in all, the branding is interwoven in the action and not brazen throughout the quest.
Tuesday’s launch of the “Airphoria” is an immersive experience. It is a Fortnite island that was created using the months-old Unreal Editor for Fortnite, which highlights custom content. Fortnite and Nike collaborated on the project with support from the company’s creator studio Beyond Creative.
During a joint interview Tuesday, Epic Games vice president of global partnerships Nate Nanzer and Nike Virtual Studios’ vice president and general manager Ron Faris detailed their alliance. One new twist is that Epic Games and Nike are linking their accounts so that users can be rewarded for their behaviors in both of those ecosystems, according to Nanzer.
“Epic has talked a lot about building an open, interoperable metaverse and this is a really willing partner in Nike to connect. It’s the start of what will become many more interactions to come with Nike.”
Looking further out, he said, “From the Epic Side, this continues to show how important a category fashion is.”
Up front about the learning curve, Faris said, “Airphoria, a completely imagined experience that allows you to interact constantly with different elements and other people in this world, is so new to this. As Nike consumers and rewards members blur the lines in where they hang out in virtual and physical spots, Nike is trying to meet them, where they are with robust experience.”
Both executives declined to comment on projected sales estimates for the cosmetics and T-shirts. While “Airphoria” players will dive into sophisticated visuals as they leap from one skyscraper roof to another and race around laser beams, the T-shirts are basic co-branded styles. Asked about that disparity, Faris said the physical was designed to commemorate the moment. “It’s a pretty bold experience that we’re launching. We’re looking at this as the future of sport. We’re looking to take sport and play in a new direction.”
The OG Air Max 1, a white sneaker with a red Swoosh that is a signature one for Nike, served as inspiration for the iconography in “Airphoria” and the co-created character. While storyboarding, the team “really started to obsess about the origins and the roots of the Air Max silhouette and how that would propel us in the future with new interpretations,” Faris said.
Creatively, the alliance gives Nike “a different level of storytelling that it is so happy to embrace” in order to tell “the folklore and mythology of our products in a way that is really compelling and immersive,” he added.
While gaming is the future of sports, it would seem counter to Nike’s ethos of being rooted in sports and physical activities. Faris said, “We think there are different contexts to sport and play. The future of sports and play is the core of where Nike wants to take things. Gaming is an element we would embrace within that. It’s not the defining sole moment and interpretation of Nike. But frankly, our members blur the lines in how they express themselves in physical and digital realms. Nike above all else is an identity brand. People like to wear the Swoosh.”
Nazer seconded that, noting how other activations have indicated Fortnite players like to wear the Swoosh too. Noting how Airphoria users face challenges in the game, he said, “The goal here was to create a world and not just [say], ‘Oh hey, here’s the latest Air Max shoe inside of Fortnite.’”
There is not a real-life treasure hunt tied to Airphoria. Nike set out to bring such scavenger hunts, which it has experience in, into the virtual world. Down-the-line Nike aspires to reward players for their Fortnite behaviors with added benefits and access on the Nike and Swoosh side. “As we bring our two groups together, you’ll see more value given to the consumer to build on this new strategic relationship,” Faris said.
Gamers have until June 27 at 8 p.m. to play “Airphoria,” which was developed by a small team over a period of months thanks to the use of Unreal Editor for Fortnite. That tool set is live and free for any brand to use and upload custom assets and bring them into Fortnite, Nazer said.
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