A distant galaxy arrived in Fortnite on Saturday. The latest clip for Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker was debuted for in-game players.
The event took place at Risky Reels, an in-game movie theater, and gave players a brief introduction to Geoff Keighley as soon as the premiere started at 2:10 p.m. ET – after a 10 minute delay so more players can sign up.
The event started with the Millennium Falcon flying on the map along with several First Order Star Destroyers. After the ships surfaced, there was a massive space battle, with stray TIE fighter explosions hitting some of the map’s most iconic locations. The falcon finally defeats the First Order ships and lands next to the players.
A projection by Geoff Keighley appeared and presented the clip to the players. After a brief introduction by an excited Storm Trooper, J.J. Abrams himself – or a Fortnite in-game model of his – stepped onto the stage to present the clip. In-game fans had the opportunity to vote on what they thought was the clip and maybe even which clip was selected.
The clip was only about a minute long and showed Rey, Finn and Poe sneaking up on a First Order Star Destroyer. When they make their way to the ship, they stop two stormtroopers. Rey sends them off with a Jedi trick.
After the premiere of the clip, players were allowed to choose their favorite color for the lightsaber before the legendary Jedi weapon came into play thanks to a chest brought in by the Millennium Falcon. The lightsabers now appear to be part of the standard Fortnite weapons along with the Star Wars blaster rifles.
As part of the event, Epic treated players with brand new Star Wars gliders made from the film, modeled on the TIE Whisper First Order ships. Any player who switched to Premier Event mode received the screen as soon as they got off the Battle Bus.
Not everyone who wanted to take part in the clip’s debut was able to do so. Epic had some serious server issues just before the event started, around 1:00 p.m. ET, which meant that many players could no longer log in to their Epic account. Despite these issues, the premiere was undoubtedly a huge event, with millions of viewers watching on Twitch and other streaming platforms, as well as countless players who could actually log into the game.
Epic’s partnership with Disney and Lucasfilm doesn’t end in this Star Wars clip either. There are also Star Wars skins in the shop, including Rey, Finn, and a Sith stormtrooper. This is the second major partnership Epic has entered into with a Disney film franchise this year after the Avengers: Endgame event in Fortnite in connection with the release of this film.
