Out of the BOX

From Fortnite to the Future of Work: The next generation of innovators, moonshots and the metaverse

Val Vacante, Director of Strategy, LiveArea/Founder, Collabsco discusses the launch of HeadOffice. Space, a metaverse for businesses to remotely connect and collaborate.

Fortnite, the cultural phenomena that started out of a game jam back in 2011, with a successful launch in 2017, has evolved into one of the most popular games in the world with over 350 million monthly active players. I spoke to a few members of our future workforce, kiddos ages 11-14 about their love for Fortnite. The common thread, according to James (age 12), “instead of a basic game, there are lots of places to go, things to do, everything from aliens and visiting the mothership or cube monsters this season. Also, players can play independently or with friends” The group further discussed how although they played Fortnite well before the pandemic, during the pandemic, Fortnite was the way that they could meet up, hang out and game on together. Fortnite goers continue to attend virtual in-game events like “Short Nite” a short film festival in Party Royal, Travis Scott Astronomical concert, complete with physical merch for sale at the launch of the event including,Cactus Jack for Fortnite AR-Goosebumps NERF Elite Dart Blaster from Hasbro and Cactus Jack for Fortnite 12-Inch Action Figure Duo Set from Jazwares. Most recently, universes collide with The Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point - Limited-edition Comic Book Series complete with redeemable codes for bonus DC-themed Fortnite virtual goods encouraging physical and digital play and purchasing. With The Rift Tour featuring Ariana Grande and events like the most recent Chapter 2 Season 7 event finale “Operation Skyfire,” the team at Epic Games continue to work with collaborators to push the boundaries with collaborative partners so the community can experience the wondrous and unexpected in Fortnite.

Mixed Worlds and the Metaverse While the “Metaverse,” might be one of the most popular words of 2021 among academics, tech aficionados and evangelists, what is it really? Ruling out all of the standard dystopian definitions and references from sci-fi novels, we will focus on