Fortnite Weezer Island is Playing the Black Album Early

Weezer’s Black Album isn’t set to release until tomorrow, March 1, 2019, but you can take a listen to the new album right now if you load up Fortnite. Epic’s battle royale phenomenon’s latest stunt is adding a whole new Weezer-themed island that is playing the Black Album. You can get a quick peek at it right here.

There is a new @Weezer themed island in @FortniteGame season 8 which is also playing the new album @RiversCuomo pic.twitter.com/tgNI3jDjr7

— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) February 28, 2019

The island appears to be a theme park in Creative Mode featuring Weezer’s logo and, of course, their music. Rivers Cuomo is a huge fan of Fortnite, playing it regularly with his daughter. Fortnite’s Creative Director Donald Mustard is also a fan of Weezer, and the two have connected on Twitter before.

The early album release is the latest in fascinating things that Epic has been doing with Fortnite to help it stand out above the crowd. Earlier this month they held a live concert featuring EDM artist Marshmello, touted as the first ever live digital concert inside of a game. Last year the developer partnered with Marvel Studios to bring a limited-time Thanos event into the game where players could actually become the mad titan by finding the Infinity Gauntlet.

Moves like this are great in the face of other games coming in to steal Fortnite’s thunder, like Apex Legends. Overall engagement in Fortnite is down, which isn’t saying much because its audience is still massive. In fact, it’s a bit surprising that it’s lasted this long given the relatively short attention span of gamers and the propensity to always move on to the next big thing. Epic has been keeping ahead of the curve by offering fresh experiences and defying expectations to make sure that players want to continue coming back to Fortnite for more than just its battle royale gameplay.

In this case, if you’re a Weezer fan, Fortnite’s going to be the place you want to be to get an early listen to the band’s latest album. In addition, Season 8 is now live, changing a lot about the map and overall gamplay meta. What will they come up with next?