The creators of Fortnite love incorporating crossovers into the battle royale game, from the creepy clown in It to the biggest recent event in Fortnite, the Marvel takeover. Recently, a prominent leaker revealed that Epic's popular game would be adding a TikTok dance as its newest emote, and that emote is now available in the store just hours after the leak.
Most people are aware at this point of the legal troubles facing Fortnite, which will been banned from the App Store for at least a year, and is engaged in lawsuits against both Apple and Google. The TikTok app is facing a similar challenge, as it is being blocked from app stores in the U.S. due to an executive order from Donald Trump starting this Sunday. Both Fortnite and TikTok won't be available to download for many users, though for entirely different reasons, but people wishing to use either app in the U.S. are facing a huge obstacle.
A well-known data miner known as Lucas7yoshi alerted the game's leaks subreddit to another TikTok dance that would become a Fortnite emote in Season 4. Emotes are a big part of Fortnite fan culture, with some players re-enacting the dances in real life, similar to how TikTok users will often copy popular dances on the app or post a video with their own interpretation.
This particular TikTok dance is called the Rollie emote, and comes from a TikTok dance with that same name performed to the song "Rolex" by Ayo and Teo. TikTok and Fortnite are no strangers to each other, and more and more TikTok dances have appeared in the video game as what many players see as a fun way to incorporate two popular parts of mass media culture into one funny dance.
Even if TikTok is banned in the U.S., it will still be available in other parts of the world, and will no doubt live on through the memetic dances, catchphrases, and sound bites made popular in the app. Fortnite is in a slightly better situation, since it's still playable on some consoles and PC, while it looks like North American TikTok users will only be able to continue using the app if it's already on their phones, and they most likely won't be able to get updates.
Not long after Lucas7yoshi leaked the dance, the Rollie emote showed up in the in-game cosmetic shop, proving the leaker to be correct. It's unfortunate that this isn't the Spider-Man dance like many people were hoping, but that one could still be coming.
Fortnite is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and mobile devices, with plans for PS5 and Xbox Series X support as each console launches.