Balenciaga Joins Fortnite in the Metaverse

Balenciaga has joined forces with Fortnite on a series of in-game outfits and a limited-run physical apparel collection. Fortnite’s Balenciaga Fit Set amps up the wardrobes of the game’s most popular characters: Ramirez, Knight, Doggo and Banshee. Modeled as digital takes on the brand’s recent runway designs, each outfit is complete with Balenciaga backblings, pickaxes, gliders, wraps and several other accessories for unique styling options. “We took four fan-favorite Fortnite characters and reached into the Balenciaga archive to create four meticulously detailed outfits and a variety of accessories,” Emily Levy, Senior Manager of Partnerships at Epic Games. “The looks were inspired by pieces from several Balenciaga collections.” Specifically, Ramirez and Knight draw inspiration from the label’s Fall 2021 collection, Doggo cites the House’s Spring 2021 line and Banshee takes cues from Spring 2020.

“In close collaboration with Balenciaga’s design team, our artists at Epic used new techniques in Unreal Engine to accurately represent the look and feel of Balenciaga’s iconic fabrics, and designs when creating the new set of Outfits in Unreal,” she added. In tandem with the launch of the digital clothing, Fortnite also launched a community-driven living lookbook campaign inside the game with the Strange Times Featured Hub. Set in a “strange” city, the Hub hosts a Balenciaga retail store inspired by the label’s brick-and-mortar locations. There, billboards boasting sartorial imagery promoting the collaboration will showcase the Fortnite community’s commitment to style. Taking the partnership one step further, Fortnite and Balenciaga have also crafted a limited-run physical apparel collection, featuring a slew of hats, T-shirts, hoodies and jackets fronting dual branding in white, red and black colorways. The real-life clothing will hit shelves on September 20 and September 21, depending on the region. “Our partnership with Epic didn’t start with Fortnite, actually,” said Demna Gvasalia, artistic director at Balenciaga, in a statement. “It started with our own first video game, Afterworld, which we built using Unreal Engine to debut our Fall 2021 collection. From there, we have continued to be inspired by the creativity of Unreal and Fortnite communities. It made total sense, to me, that we collaborate further by creating these authentic Balenciaga looks for Fortnite and a new physical Fortnite clothing series for our stores.” Take a look at the in-game outfits and physical clothing collaborations above.

Fortnite: Save the World on Mac is Shutting Down

Fortnite, the Save the World version, not the Battle Royale game, will be shutting down on Mac devices soon. The end of the game on that platform is the latest development in the ongoing legal battle between Epic Games and Apple. Epic Games said it’s no longer able to release patches for its games on Mac devices because of the disputes, and as a result of that, the game will be unplayable later this month.

 

Epic Games announced its plans to shutter Save the World on Mac devices in a post on the game’s site this week. Beginning September 23rd, the developer announced, the game will no longer be playable.

“Apple is preventing Epic from signing games and patches for distribution on Mac, which ends our ability to develop and offer Fortnite: Save the World for the platform,” Epic Games said. “Specifically, our upcoming v14.20 release will cause bugs for players on v13.40, resulting in a very poor experience. Since we are no longer able to sign updates and release fixes for these issues, beginning September 23, 2020, Fortnite: Save the World will no longer be playable on macOS.”

If you played Save the World at any point between September 17, 2019, to September 17, 2020, you’ll be getting a refund for whatever edition of the game your purchased and any V-Bucks you may have spent on Llamas on the Mac platform. Save the World Starter Packs are no longer available to purchase as of this week.

If you’ve been playing Fortnite Battle Royale on your Mac devices, you’re in luck. That version of the game is still up and running, but because of the legal situation between the two companies, it won’t be getting anymore updates for the time being. The v13.40 build is the latest update to go live on that platform – the one that added cars to the game – so if you’re playing on a Mac, you’re far behind everyone else that’s been enjoying the current Marvel-themed season and all the updates that have come with it.