In a wonderful Valentine’s Day surprise, Fortnite has introduced a new emote inspired by the Rickrolling meme, and it’s incredible. It plays part of the actual song by Rick Astley, “Never Gonna Give You Up,” and your in-game character dances just like Astley does in the music video.
Fortnite now lets you Rickroll your friends
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna give you up
Image: Epic Games
is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.
The emote, called “Never Gonna,” is available in Fortnite’s in-game shop right now for 500 V-bucks, which approximates to about $5. You can get a taste of what it looks and sounds like in this tweet from Fortnite’s official Twitter account:
The emote is not only notable for being one of the most famous memes ever, but also because, as far as I know, it’s the first Fortnite emote that’s backed by a well-known song. In late 2018, Epic Games was hit with a number of lawsuits that alleged the company stole popular dance moves and sold them as Fortnite emotes, including one filed by Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star Alfonso Ribeiro over Fortnite’s interpretation of the Carlton dance.
Most of those lawsuits are on pause, and while choreographed dance routines can be copyrighted, individual dance moves can’t. But copyright protection for songs is extremely well-established, so Epic has presumably licensed Rick Astley’s internet-famous hit for this new emote. And that seems to open up a potential world of possibility where other licensed songs are used in the game, too.
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