It is the ultimate week earlier than the U.S. 2024 presidential election, and within the waning hours of her marketing campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris is making a bid to a bunch that is not usually focused in such races: avid gamers.
Right this moment, Harris’ marketing campaign is launching its personal Fortnite map: Freedom City, USA. It is a customized inventive map themed round a few of Harris’ marketing campaign pledges, together with tax breaks for small companies and a concentrate on reasonably priced housing. The map could be present in Fortnite Artistic beginning immediately utilizing code 733155366547.
Freedom City, USA is joined by political takeovers of a minimum of eight different Fortnite Artistic maps by Fortnite creators Jordan “Huskerss” Thomas, Morgan “MODELMORG” Pope, Lyah “Himalyahs” Barberan, and Khairi “Kdot” Harris. These maps (Drive Metropolis, Troll Mattress Wars, Meme Boxfights, Tremendous Field PVP, Soccer Boxfights, Bullseye 2v2, Bullseye 1v1, and Bullseye 3v3) will embrace political in-game signage, customized fashions, and themed audio cues. One among these cues, performed when amassing a cat, performs a quote from Harris’ rival former President Donald Trump: “they’re consuming the canine, consuming the cats.”
This transfer comes as a part of a latest, a lot broader attraction made by the Harris marketing campaign to succeed in younger, male voters by video video games. Different latest efforts embrace a Geeks & Nerds for Harris fundraiser, a weekend Twitch stream the place Vice Presidential candidate Governor Tim Walz performed Madden NFL and Loopy Taxi with Consultant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and plenty of promoting efforts throughout cell video games, sports activities betting platforms, and YouTube channels. (The Harris marketing campaign has additionally marketed on IGN. You’ll be able to view our coverage on the separation of editorial and promoting pursuits right here.)
Whereas the Trump marketing campaign has not made an analogous focused push to gamer audiences, the previous President has commented on video video games earlier than. Throughout his tenure within the White Home, President Trump blamed violent video video games for a capturing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive Faculty in Parkland, Florida, saying that such video games had been “shaping younger individuals’s ideas” and publishing a reel of “violent video video games” that included clips from Name of Responsibility: Trendy Warfare 2, Wolfenstein, Useless by Daylight, Sniper Elite, and Fallout 4. We have reached out to former President Trump’s marketing campaign for remark.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You’ll find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Bought a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.
