Fortnite Festival’s Rumored Season 9 Artist Would Be Its Most Meaningful

Fortnite is no stranger to collabs, whether it’s partnering with musicians, iconic IPs, or huge brands. With the introduction of Fortnite Festival back in December 2023, collaborations with musicians in the title’s rhythm mode have skyrocketed. Additionally, many of these collaborations have been successful, with new cosmetics being available not just for Fortnite’s battle royale mode, but for Fortnite Festival itself. Season 9’s rumored artist would be a particularly big deal, as it could see a broken up group reuniting.

Previous seasons of Fortnite Festival have added popular artists of today, established icons of the past, and global superstars. The game partnered with The Weeknd during Season 1 before adding Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, Metallica, Karol G, Snoop Dogg, Hatsune Miku, and its most recent star, Sabrina Carpenter, this past month. Most Fornite Festival seasons last around two to four months, and considering Sabrina Carpenter just finished the European leg of her wildly successful Short n’ Sweet Tour, it’s likely that her time on Fortnite Festival’s main stage will be on the longer side. When her time in the spotlight comes to the end, though, leakers have suggested that fans may see Daft Punk actually reunite within Fortnite.

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Daft Punk May be Fortnite Festival’s Season 9 Collaboration

Four months are nothing compared to how long fans of Daft Punk have waited for fresh content from the electronic duo. The group split up in February 2021 with the release of a video on their YouTube channel titled “Epilogue.” Since the split, several anniversary collections of music by the iconic group have been released, such as a 25th anniversary edition of Homework, a 10th anniversary edition of Random Access Memories, solo work from Thomas Bangalter, and various Twitch streams of older Daft Punk projects.

Prominent Fornite leaker FNBRintel broke the story on X (formerly Twitter) on April 7. While new content from Daft Punk would be unlikely for Fortnite Festival, every new musician addition has coincided not just with new skins, but new tracks added to the rhythm game. The reception to the rumor has sparked joy in many Daft Punk fans, though some have made stray comments here and there about the group’s priorities. A key example surrounds Daft Punk’s relationship with the Tron franchise. The next installment in the Tron franchise, Tron: Ares, was announced after the duo’s separation, with Nine Inch Nails composing the upcoming film’s score. In response to the Fornite Festival rumor, some fans have expressed disappointment that Daft Punk would choose to collaborate with a video game, rather than Tron: Ares, considering they scored its predecessor, Tron: Legacy.

What a Daft Punk x Fortnite Festival Collab Could Look Like

As mentioned, Fortnite Festival collaborations always result in new skins and playable songs from the artist of the season. There are several tracks from Daft Punk’s catalogue that would be perfect additions to Fortnite Festival, but nailing down which tracks will be available in the shop and which will be battle-pass exclusive, at least initially, could be a bit more tricky. “One More Time,” “Get Lucky,” and “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” seem like the three tracks most likely to hit the game. However, it wouldn’t be surprising to see “Around the World” join Fortnite Festival as well, or even “Instant Crush.”

Considering that Daft Punk is primarily an electronic act, determining skins for Fortnite Festival’s various instruments might not be as easy as guessing which songs will hit the game. Of course, both Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo would join the game as physical skins, considering that their helmets are different. However, Fortnite may go the easy route when designing instrument skins for this hypothetical Season 9 collaboration. This collab’s roster of guitars, basses, drums, keytars, and microphones, may simply just be metallic recolorings of the instruments. Nevertheless, if this rumor is true, Daft Punk’s introduction to Fortnite will certainly delight the group’s fanbase.