With 500 million registered players and futuristic immersive effects, Fortnite is catapulting Nike — and potentially other financially robust fashion brands — right into a gateway to innovation.

Having first joined forces in 2019 for a Jordan brand initiative, Fortnite and Nike are actually releasing an Air Max-themed universe, making the sneaker giant one in all the primary brands to make use of the months-old Unreal Editor for Fortnite.

Gamers shall be reminded of the sneaker giant via giant orange Nike shoe boxes emblazoned with the Swoosh logo and Air Max-themed environs. They also can buy the Airie and Maxxed Out Max Outfits within the Fortnite Item Shop and co-branded limited-run T-shirts via Nike’s e-commerce site in North America. All in all, the branding is interwoven within the motion and never brazen throughout the search.

Tuesday’s launch of the “Airphoria” is an immersive experience. It’s a Fortnite island that was created using the months-old Unreal Editor for Fortnite, which highlights custom content. Fortnite and Nike collaborated on the project with support from the corporate’s creator studio Beyond Creative.

During a joint interview Tuesday, Epic Games vp of worldwide partnerships Nate Nanzer and Nike Virtual Studios’ vp and general manager Ron Faris detailed their alliance. One recent twist is that Epic Games and Nike are linking their accounts in order that users could be rewarded for his or her behaviors in each of those ecosystems, in accordance with Nanzer.

“Epic has talked loads about constructing an open, interoperable metaverse and this can be a really willing partner in Nike to attach. It’s the beginning of what’s going to turn into many more interactions to come back with Nike.”

Looking further out, he said, “From the Epic Side, this continues to point out how vital a category fashion is.”

Up front concerning the learning curve, Faris said, “Airphoria, a totally imagined experience that means that you can interact always with different elements and other people on this world, is so recent to this. As Nike consumers and rewards members blur the lines in where they hand around in virtual and physical spots, Nike is trying to fulfill them, where they’re with robust experience.”

Each executives declined to comment on projected sales estimates for the cosmetics and T-shirts. While “Airphoria” players will dive into sophisticated visuals as they leap from one skyscraper roof to a different and race around laser beams, the T-shirts are basic co-branded styles. Asked about that disparity, Faris said the physical was designed to commemorate the moment. “It’s a reasonably daring experience that we’re launching. We’re this as the long run of sport. We’re trying to take sport and play in a recent direction.”

The OG Air Max 1, a white sneaker with a red Swoosh that could be a signature one for Nike, served as inspiration for the iconography in “Airphoria” and the co-created character. While storyboarding, the team “really began to obsess concerning the origins and the roots of the Air Max silhouette and the way that might propel us in the long run with recent interpretations,” Faris said.

Creatively, the alliance gives Nike “a special level of storytelling that it’s so pleased to embrace” so as to tell “the folklore and mythology of our products in a way that is absolutely compelling and immersive,” he added.  

While gaming is the long run of sports, it might seem counter to Nike’s ethos of being rooted in sports and physical activities. Faris said, “We expect there are different contexts to sport and play. The longer term of sports and play is the core of where Nike desires to take things. Gaming is a component we’d embrace inside that. It’s not the defining sole moment and interpretation of Nike. But frankly, our members blur the lines in how they express themselves in physical and digital realms. Nike above all else is an identity brand. People prefer to wear the Swoosh.”

Nazer seconded that, noting how other activations have indicated Fortnite players prefer to wear the Swoosh too. Noting how Airphoria users face challenges in the sport, he said, “The goal here was to create a world and never just [say], ‘Oh hey, here’s the most recent Air Max shoe within Fortnite.’”

There just isn’t a real-life treasure hunt tied to Airphoria. Nike got down to bring such scavenger hunts, which it has experience in, into the virtual world. Down-the-line Nike aspires to reward players for his or her Fortnite behaviors with added advantages and access on the Nike and Swoosh side. “As we bring our two groups together, you’ll see more value given to the patron to construct on this recent strategic relationship,” Faris said.

Gamers have until June 27 at 8 p.m. to play “Airphoria,” which was developed by a small team over a period of months due to the usage of Unreal Editor for Fortnite. That tool set is live and free for any brand to make use of and upload custom assets and convey them into Fortnite, Nazer said.