It is the ultimate week earlier than the U.S. 2024 presidential election, and within the waning hours of her marketing campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris is making a bid to a gaggle that is not typically focused in such races: players.
At the moment, Harris’ marketing campaign is launching its personal Fortnite map: Freedom City, USA. It is a customized artistic map themed round a few of Harris’ marketing campaign pledges, together with tax breaks for small companies and a deal with reasonably priced housing. The map will be present in Fortnite Artistic beginning right this moment utilizing code 733155366547, and will be noticed in devoted associate streams from Fortnite content material creators reminiscent of Jordan “Huskerss” Thomas, Morgan “MODELMORG” Pope, Lyah “Himalyahs” Barberan, and Khairi “Kdot” Harris.
Freedom City, USA is joined by political takeovers of at the least eight different Fortnite Artistic maps (Drive Metropolis, Troll Mattress Wars, Meme Boxfights, Tremendous Field PVP, Soccer Boxfights, Bullseye 2v2, Bullseye 1v1, and Bullseye 3v3), which can embody political in-game signage, customized fashions, and themed audio cues. One in every of these cues, performed when accumulating a cat, performs a quote from Harris’ rival former President Donald Trump: “they’re consuming the canine, consuming the cats.”
This transfer comes as a part of a current, a lot broader attraction made by the Harris marketing campaign to achieve younger, male voters via video video games. Different current efforts embody a Geeks & Nerds for Harris fundraiser, a weekend Twitch stream the place Vice Presidential candidate Governor Tim Walz performed Madden NFL and Loopy Taxi with Consultant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and plenty of promoting efforts throughout cell video games, sports activities betting platforms, and YouTube channels. (The Harris marketing campaign has additionally marketed on IGN. You may view our coverage on the separation of editorial and promoting pursuits right here.)
Whereas the Trump marketing campaign has not made an identical focused push to gamer audiences, the previous President has commented on video video games earlier than. Throughout his tenure within the White Home, President Trump blamed violent video video games for a capturing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive Faculty in Parkland, Florida, saying that such video games had been “shaping younger individuals’s ideas” and publishing a reel of “violent video video games” that included clips from Name of Obligation: Fashionable Warfare 2, Wolfenstein, Lifeless by Daylight, Sniper Elite, and Fallout 4. We have reached out to former President Trump’s marketing campaign for remark.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You could find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Obtained a narrative tip? Ship it to [email protected].
This text has been up to date to incorporate clarification on the streamers and Artistic maps concerned within the Fortnite marketing campaign.