Fortnite Festival: release date, artists, songs, gameplay and everything we know

Fortnite Festival is a new rhythm game coming to Fortnite this week from the creators of Guitar Hero and Rock Band

Fortnite Festival is one of the three brand new game modes coming to Fortnite this week. This new mode features a focus on music and rhythm.

Fortnite is a new game following the conclusion of The Big Bang event and the release of Chapter 5 Season 1. You can still play the classic modes like Battle Royale, Zero Build, and Save the World, but Epic Games' goal to turn Fortnite into a platform is coming to fruition. There's Lego Fortnite, a new mode inspired by Minecraft and featuring over 1,000 Fortnite Lego skins; the new competitive racing mode, Rocket Racing, created by the Rocket League developers Psyonix; and Fortnite Festival, a music mode launching this week, alongside a brand-new Fortnite Festival Pass.

Fortnite Festival comes courtesy of developer Harmonix, which Epic bought back in 2021. If you recognise that name it's because Harmonix is legendary in the music game genre for being the creator of Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Dance Central – so who better to make a new music game experience for Fortnite? Here's everything we know about Fortnite Festival so far.

Fortnite Festival: release date

The Fortnite Festival release date is set for Saturday, December 9, being the third new mode to release this week after Lego Fortnite on Thursday, December 7, and Rocket Racing on Friday, December 8 (got to save the best for last I suppose).

Epic hasn't confirmed a Fortnite Festival release time just yet, but considering the Lego Fortnite release time is pegged for 12pm GMT / 7am EST / 4am PST on its release date, we'd expect the same for the Fortnite Festival release time on Saturday, December 9.

Fortnite Festival: gameplay and controls

Those of you who played the latest Fortnite live event have already experienced Fortnite Festival. During The Big Bang, when during the Eminem Concert segment, a lane appeared, prompting players to press buttons on their controller or keyboard in time with the notes coming down the lane. This is very much what Fortnite Festival is going to be.

Following the latest update the in-game Locker in Fortnite shows sections for Instruments and Jam Tracks. Instruments includes separate sections for Guitar, Bass, Drums, Keytar, and Microphone, while Jam Tracks has eight empty slots. Presumably this means you'll be able to take your chosen tracks into the mode to play, and that there will be separate note charts available to play for each of the available instruments (as well as new cosmetics for said instruments).

Fortnite Festival: artists and songs

Fortnite Festival currently has 26 artists confirmed, including The Weeknd, who's kicking off Fortnite Festival at, well, the weekend. The Weeknd event pass will be available alongside the Fortnite Festival launch, featuring unlockables for the mode in both free and paid-for tiers.

However, thanks to Fortnite leaker @HYPEX on Twitter we know about a few more acts who should be showing up in-game. First off, a number of Fortnite original tracks – previously used as lobby music – are going to be given out to players according to a @HYPEX tweet (with players who paid for these lobby tracks already getting a V-Bucks refunds as per an Epic tweet).

Fortnite leaker @ShiinaBR on Twitter has posted the full launch list of songs available in Fortnite Festival this weekend, these are as follows:

• The All-American Rejects – Dirty Little Secret
• Bell Biv Devoe – Poison
• Billie Eilish – Bad Guy
• The Cranberries – Zombie
• DNCE – Cake by the Ocean
• Epic Games – Brace for Chaos
• Epic Games – Butter Barn Hoedown
• Epic Games – Run It
• Epic Games – Switch Up
• Epic Games – Take Me Higher
• Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)
• Florence + The Machine – Dog Days Are Over
• Greta Van Fleet – Highway Tune
• Imagine Dragons – Thunder
• Kendrick Lamar – i
• The Killers – Mr. Brightside
• KT Tunstall – Suddenly I See
• Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
• LMFAO ft Lauren Bennett and Goonrock – Party Rock Anthem
• Machine Gun Kelly Ft. Willow – Emo Girl
• NF – The Search
• Nine Inch Nails – The Hand That Feeds
• Olivia Rodrigo – Vampire
• Onerepublic – Counting Stars
• PSY – Gangnam Style
• Queens of the Stone Age – Go with the Flow
• Sub Urban – Cradles
• The Weeknd – Blinding Lights
• The Weeknd – The Hills
• The Weeknd – Save Your Tears
• The Weeknd – Take My Breath
• Weezer – Buddy Holly
• The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army
• Witchgang – Nothing's Alright

However, before the mode was even confirmed, @HYPEX posted another tweet about something music-related that was upcoming, giving us a look at some of the songs found in the Fortnite Festival files that aren't included in this list. These are as follows:

• Lady Gaga – Pokerface
• Linkin Park – Numb
• Toto – Africa
• Alice Cooper – Poison
• More Fortnite Music Packs

Obviously this is just the tip of the iceberg considering how many collabs Epic has done with musicians in the past. Knowing this, we'd expect some of the main collabs to crop back up like Ariana Grande and John Cena (he has a rap album, so he counts!).

Fortnite Festival: age rating

The Fortnite Festival age rating is a PEGI 12, and a T rating from the ESRB. It earned these ratings due to 'mild swearing' – this is in line with the age rating of Fortnite Battle Royale and previous Rock Band and Guitar Hero titles. This age rating led to Epic humorously posting a tweet on the @FNFestival Twitter account saying "Can’t believe we need to post this but - there’s no ‘sex’ in Fortnite Festival" in response to players noticing a sexual content descriptor in the age ratings.