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Rapper 2 Milly, who popularized the “Milly Rock” dance, is now suing Epic Games for the use of his dance moves as a Fornite emote. Labeled “Swipe It” within the game, Fornite began selling the emote in July. The emote was available as an unlockable feature when players purchased the seasonal Battle Pass add-on. The lawsuit comes after various celebrities called the game company out for appropriating and monetizing off of other people’s dance moves. “Fortnite should put the actual rap songs behind the dances that make so much money as Emotes,” Chance the Rapper said in a tweet. “Black creatives created and popularized these dances but never monetized them. Imagine the money people are spending on these Emotes being shared with the artists that made them.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5-55wLSwN0 The lawsuit becomes tricky because there are copyright laws that protect choreography, but no specific laws that protect specific dance steps. Fornite’s procedures in coding the dance...
Epic Games, the creators of game-craze Fortnite, has hit a valuation of over $15 billion. The company said more than $1.25 billion in stock was purchased by new investors last week. These investors included e-sports owner aXiomatic, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Walt Disney Co. Fortnite garnered international attention when it began offering its free mode but continued making money by selling virtual costumes and dance modifications to its players. Analysts say the shooting game has been losing gamer attention since the summer, but its parent company, Epic Games, will be fine in the long run. The e-sports industry is gaining more attention as more professional athletes, celebrities and former professional gamers are investing money in these companies. Drake and Michael Jordan both announced they are now investors in two separate e-sports ventures as well. Epic Games is also known for creating Gears of War and developing software that helps others make video games.