Lady Gaga may soon be holding a virtual concert in Fortnite

(Image credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin (Getty Images))

It's starting to look very much like Lady Gaga, she of the Poker Face who was Born This Way, could soon be coming to Fortnite, possibly for a virtual concert of her own.

The most recent (and convincing) bit of evidence pointing at an online Gaga show comes from the Fortnite Leaks and Info account on Twitter, which recently dug up a "collaborative emote" called Jug Band that sounds very similar to the mega-hit Poker Face when four players take part in it. Shortly afterward, the Lady Gaga Now fan site posted a clip of the emote in action:

A new "synced emote" featuring Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" will be added to FORTNITE in the upcoming patch. pic.twitter.com/ie9VNEaswNAugust 30, 2022

Yeah, that's definitely it. I'm not even what you'd call a casual Lady Gaga fan and there's not a doubt in my mind, that's P-p-p-poker Face. (Here's the original—dare to compare.) And that's not all: In July, "concert stage" assets for Fortnite Island including scaffolding and stacks leaked, leading to immediate excitement and speculation about who's coming to town.

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It's possible that the upcoming emote is unrelated to a virtual visit from the Mother Monster. Epic Games announced earlier today that Lady Gaga is one of the artists, along with Janelle Monáe, Lil Nas X, Todrick Hall, King Princess, Kim Petras, and others, who will be heard on in-game radios during the Rainbow Royale festival celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community, which begins on September 8.

But the likelihood of something bigger was actually hinted at more than a year ago in court documents submitted as part of Epic's ongoing beef with Apple. One of the slides in those documents has images of J Balvin, Ariana Grande, and Lady Gaga side by side, with months next to their names: Balvin and Grande have both taken part in virtual performances in Fortnite already, and it seems clear that at the very least, Epic was far enough along in negotiations for a Gaga appearance at one point that it was willing to commit to it on paper.

Epic Games court filing - J Balvin, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga — (Image credit: Epic Games)

And lest anyone (who isn't paying attention to Fortnite) think this sort of thing would be slumming for Lady Gaga, recall that Travis Scott earned a reported $20 million from his Fortnite show, and that was two years ago. That's an awfully good reason to show up for a one-off online concert—even if you're not entirely sure what Fortnite is.

What’s fortnightOctober 15, 2019

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.