Why Fortnite was partly blamed for the Travis Scott Astroworld accident

Epic Games' battle royale, Fortnite, was partly blamed for the horrific incident that took place during Travis Scott's Astroworld tour. An accidental stampede led to the death of at least eight attendees, with several more confirmed injured.

As soon as news of the incident broke, people started alleging that Fortnite was the reason why children got hurt at the Travis Scott Astroworld 2021 tour. They believe that the hip-hop artist used the battle royale game, amongst several other marketing techniques, to reach out to a younger audience.

Following his in-game Astronomical concert, Travis garnered several thousand young fans. Consequently, many feel Fortnite's contribution to the artist's popularity is partly responsible for the tragic events of the Astroworld tour.

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What role did Fortnite play in the Travis Scott Astroworld incident?

Travis Scott is known for headlining one of the most popular Fortnite concerts. Several players attended the in-game event and continue to celebrate the same with the Travis Scott skin. It is evident that the concert managed to gather thousands of long-term fans for Travis Scott, and clearly, a majority of them were children.

The internet alleged that Travis Scott had a concert in Fortnite because he prefers marketing to kids.

Concerts or music festivals of popular artists often end in similar accidents. Therefore, if Fortnite inspired even one child to visit the Astroworld 2021 tour, the internet feels that the game is partly to blame for the injury of those children.

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Could Fortnite have avoided the blame for the Travis Scott Astroworld incident?

In retrospect, it seems like, apart from a disclaimer or a warning about how real-life concerts can be different from in-game ones, there is nothing Fortnite can do to avoid such mishaps in the future.

With concerts being an essential part of the battle royale game, the developers will likely face a lot of backlash for deciding to remove the live events for good.

Epic Games has already started to subtly remove all Travis Scott-related cosmetics to distance itself from the recent incident. However, the possibility of avoiding the blame for such incidents in the future seems limited.