The Brazilian will be part of the famous video game and more collaborations with football players are expected in the future
PSG and Brazilian National Team star Neymar becomes first athlete to be part of hit Fortnite video game, as announced by Epic Games.
As part of the game’s sixth season launch “Primal”, video game players can fight like Neymar as they compete to win everything in the Battle Royale.
Digital costumes (known as “skins”) are popular in the game and include collaborations with characters from Star Wars, The Walking Dead and Marvel. In addition, players have the option to wear uniforms from different football teams, and Neymar’s presentation marks the first time in the history of the game in which an athlete has been completely digitally constructed.
Neymar is one of the “Icon Series”including popular game content creators who can also be chosen to play as Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and Spanish gamer TheGrefG, who recently broke the audience record at Nerve twitching while revealing his appearance Fortnite live, with an audience of 2.4 million viewers.
Epic Games Global Head of Partnerships, Nate Nanzer, said against ESPN he and his team have been in contact with Neymar for “quite a long time,” as the Brazilian is an avid gamer. Nanzer said this was key to creating meaningful collaboration for both parties.
“We wanted to cause a stir, bring in athletes who have global appeal and based on the really successful global football launch in January, it’s very well timed… Games are a big part of your life when you’re not playing football. We think this is a really authentic way to bring it into play and we can’t wait for the fans to see it. ”
Nanzer said sports is a major growth area for Fortnite and that football is a major focus given the game’s global impact. Further collaborations with football players and other sports are possible in the future.
Epic Games has not yet revealed when Neymar’s first appearance will be, nor does it specify what his role will be.