New York (AFP)

Scenes from around the world are empty due to a pandemic, but video games like Fortnite or Minecraft organize concerts in their virtual world, with real artists, a way to further strengthen their influence.

At the end of April, on the platform of the successful video game Fortnite, the rapper Travis Scott appeared suddenly, under a starry sky. A clamor sounded before he sang his hit "Sicko Mode".

On its five free performances, from April 23 to 25, they were 12.3 million players to connect, according to the game's publisher, the American Epic Games.

Fortnite had already hosted, in early February 2019, the American DJ Marshmello. But since then, the coronavirus pandemic has put concerts on hold in the real world and the Epic Games platform is advancing its pawns.

In early May, she launched Party Royale, a giant virtual party, hosted by renowned DJs, notably deadmau5 and Steve Aoki.

"It's good for the artist and the publisher," says Dmitri Williams, professor at USC Annenberg (California), who is interested in the societal and economic impact of online games.

The artist "has access to many people whom he would not normally access," he said, mostly young men, a highly sought-after population "in an increasingly fragmented media world".

For the publisher, "it's a big success because it finds itself associated with something entertaining and real", which "increases the traffic" of its platform.

In mid-April, another game, Minecraft, organized a free virtual festival, Nether Meant, in its universe. He plans another, May 16, titled Block by Blockwest with notably the rock group Against The Current.

For Adam Arrigo, CEO of Wave, specializing in virtual concerts, the idea is not to "recreate something you could do in the real world", but to "value" the contribution of technology.

"You are not constrained by the laws of physics or gravity, so you can do anything," he says. "It's a visual spectacle that evolves towards surrealism."

Fortnite's Travis Scott measured more than ten times the size of spectators, embodied by the traditional avatars of the game, who could dance and mix with each other.

He has changed his figure several times, in a setting that has alternated celestial vaults, meteor storms and light effects.

- "In addition to real life" -

"Many artists and record labels, festivals and event organizers see video games as the new destination for presenting a show," said Cherie Hu, who publishes the professional letter Water and Music.

Everyone sees this new space as complementary and not as a threat to the music and entertainment industry, already under pressure before the pandemic and suffering today.

"It will remain something that will exist in addition to real life," says Adam Arrigo, "other dimensions of the same show".

On the economic level, the model of these concerts remains free, while the ticket for the show of a major artist in person is worth on average almost 100 dollars (96 according to the Pollstar cabinet).

This applies for the moment to all online concerts - including outside the world of video games - which have multiplied with confinement.

Especially since after the flood of direct improvised videos, "many begin to take the visual aspect seriously, even when the artist is stuck at home," says Cherie Hu.

A requirement that further increases production costs, without generating income.

Some artists have dared the paid formula, notably Erykah Badu, underlines Cherie Hu, but they are still very rare and have even been criticized sometimes for having given up free music.

"It is still early to determine how it all turns into income," she said.

In the case of video game platforms, the investment is in recruiting and retaining players.

Some people already see Fortnite and its 350 million gamers becoming a real social network, ready to compete with the giants of the sector such as Facebook, with the marked advantage of a much younger audience.

Dmitri Williams does not believe in it: the interactions between players are limited and each game takes place with different players, unlike games that are long-term and require prolonged cooperation.

"It's almost like playing alone," he says.

© 2020 AFP