Fortnite just wrapped its third annual Rainbow Royale, which launched in 2021 as an explicitly LGBTQ+ Pride event hosted by developer Epic Games. Unfortunately, this year, Fortnite refused to so much as mention queer and trans people despite significant feedback from actual Fortnite players.
On August 17, Fortnite posted about the return of the Rainbow Royale to its official Twitter account, informing players that they could pick up a handful of free, rainbow-themed items from its in-game shop until August 24. The post was accompanied by a short video of a Fortnite character decked out in holographic rainbow gear, holding a massive fan with ‘THWORP!’ written across its blades as an homage to drag queens Trixie Mattel and Katya. Throughout the last week, Fortnite has posted about the return of the Rainbow Crossroads map and the Rainbow Royale Radio playlist, which features songs from LGBTQ artists.
Unfortunately, that’s the closest Epic Games got to specifically naming queer and trans people as they allegedly “celebrated” community members in the event.
In its inaugural year, Fortnite announced Rainbow Royale as a week-long celebration of its “amazing LGBTQIA+ community” and last summer, the Rainbow Royale event introduced a skin for the DC superhero Dream—the first transgender character in Fortnite. In comparison, the 2023 event felt extremely watered down. Considering we’ve seen major brands like Target cave to conservative backlash over LGBTQIA+ Pride lines this year, it’s grim to see Fortnite play halfsies in its commitment to queer and trans players.
Fortnite is widely played by openly queer and trans gamers, including popular Twitch users. However, like in most MMORPGs, the in-game community is often hostile to players in the LGBTQIA+ community. When Fortnite initially announced its Rainbow Royale event, it truly felt like a celebration of its queer and trans community members and sent a clear message to bigoted ones that LGBTQIA+ people belong, period. Now, anyone who doesn’t know the history of the Rainbow Royale can easily wave it off as not being about queer or trans people at all, which further alienates players and invites room for conservatives to claim they’ve “won” whatever culture war they think they’re fighting in a video game.
(featured image: Epic Games)
