Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge
A few weeks ago, I went to a Charlie Puth concert from my computer. The concert was in Fortnite, in the new State Farm Park arena in the iHeartland area of the game’s island. For a half hour or so, I watched and listened to Puth play the hits, as I also flew and parkour’d around the island playing the iHeartLand mini games.
This is the concert, or at least a concert, of the future: more interactive, more immersive, and taking place in purely digital spaces. For artists of all genres and statures, “What’s up, Roblox!” is the new “What’s up, Cleveland!”
Digital concerts are nothing new, of course. But starting with Travis Scott’s Fortnite show in 2020, the music industry has taken new notice of platforms like Fortnite, Roblox, and M…