On February 22, 2021, after 28 years of creating hits, Daft Punk announced their split in an enigmatic and moving video. Standard-bearers of French Touch electronic music, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo had become icons of pop culture. A sign of the timelessness of their music is that the French duo has remained very active even since then, through album re-releases, remastered music videos, and sharing previously unseen archives online.
Fortnite is always exploring possibilities for unexpected artistic collaborations and Daft Punk will join the world of one of the most popular video games today on September 27 at 2 p.m. Eastern time. An immersive experience paying tribute to the duo’s musical and visual legacy, “The Daft Punk Experience” will allow players to explore and revisit the work of one of the most spectacular and inspiring musical acts of the last 30 years.
GQ spoke via Zoom with Cédric Hervet, creative director for Daft Punk, and Alex Rigopulos, senior director of Game Development-Music at Epic Games, to learn more about this unique partnership that pushes the boundaries of both video games and music.
Alex Rigopulos: Fortnite has a long history with musical artists, including Travis Scott, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Metallica, Eminem, and Snoop Dogg, and players have been asking us for years to bring Daft Punk into the game. They’re one of the most unique and innovative musical duos of the last 30 years, so we had to take the musical experience up a notch with them. In the past, we’ve put on amazing concerts that lasted 10 or 15 minutes and then they’re gone. For Daft Punk, we wanted to do something bigger, deeper, and more lasting. Something that fans could come back to again and again.
The world of Daft Punk has often intersected with other art forms besides music, notably film and animation. Why were you interested in exploring the world of video games?
Cédric Hervet: Back when Daft Punk was still active, we often tried to create work that could become part of pop culture. Fortnite is part of that. When you see people recreating dances from the game in real life, you understand its influence on the collective imagination. Epic Games came to us with the idea and we were intrigued by the creative aspect of the collaboration. I didn’t know much about Fortnite, but the possibility of Daft Punk being part of the game seemed like a lot of fun. I think players are going to love wearing Daft Punk outfits in Battle Royale!
Rigopulos: As Cédric was saying earlier, we wanted to include Daft Punk’s outfits in the game from the outset, so that players could use them in Battle Royale or any other Fortnite mode. The robots’ identity was central to our thinking. Cédric, who has been Daft Punk's creative director since its early days, joined our project early on. He knows the duo’s visual universe inside out and every detail of the robots’ appearance. That was a huge help in staying true to their identity.
Rigopulos: We see this project as a love letter to Daft Punk. It’s a celebration of their music and the universe they created. We chose moments, outfits, and film clips that left a lasting impression and that we wanted to bring back to life in the game. We didn’t create any new outfits for the occasion; it was more a case of selecting ones that best represented Daft Punk. And they have so many cool outfits that it was difficult to choose among them. We finally opted for the leather biker outfit, which we often saw them wearing during the Alive 2007 era, and the sequined costumes from Random Access Memories.
Hervet: We didn’t want to add new outfits because the group no longer exists. We had to work with their legacy. We were lucky that there’s no shortage of iconic references for Daft Punk, so we had lots of options to explore.
Rigopulos: It’s impossible to choose one. I love them all!
Hervet: I really like the leather outfit; they look so badass in it.
Rigopulos: The journey begins in Battle Royale and then connects to the world of Daft Punk. I don’t want to give everything away, but once players arrive, they’ll find themselves facing a large pyramid that is the center of the experience. There are five main rooms. The first is inspired by their Alive 2007 tour. It's a visual presentation that’s very faithful to the large stage they performed on. Since it’s in a video game, we were able to make it even more visually over-the-top. That’s a plus of being a video game creator: If we want to make characters fly or create ones that are 100 meters tall, we can.
There will also be a disco room, focused on Random Access Memories. Players will be able to come and dance and express themselves while listening to this incredible music. The Dream Chamber Studios will allow players to take musical loops from certain Daft Punk songs and create their own remixes or mashups. Music lovers will love it. In the Robot Rock Arena, players will be able to shoot robots with sound wave lasers. Finally, as part of our collaboration with Lego, we have designed a special room centered around the music video for “Around the World” directed by Michel Gondry in 1997. Players will transform into Lego figures and create their own version of the music video, playing with the dancers or the lighting in the room. It’s a lot of fun to explore.
Hervet: Earlier, I was talking about how Daft Punk always sought to engage with pop culture, and Lego, for me, is a perfect example of that. It fits perfectly with the idea of short loops that we could find in their music.
Hervet: It's hard to say, but I think it would be “Around the World.” I remember when Michel Gondry showed us his ideas for the music video. We were in a hotel room in London, sitting on the bed, and he was drawing everything he had in mind, how he was going to arrange the set and the dancers with the music. Later, at a music conference in Miami, he showed us the finished video and we were completely blown away. It was an incredible moment.
Rigopulos: They have so many wonderful songs. In the game, we obviously included big hits like “Get Lucky” and “One More Time,” but what I found exciting about this project was being able to include other songs that are not as well-known but just as memorable. I'm thinking of a sublime track like “Something About Us.” I also really love “Infinity Repeating,” which was released for the 10th anniversary of Random Access Memories. I remember crying when I first saw the music video. I really hope that players will be able to discover some of their songs through this experience.
Hervet: I wish I could give you an answer, but I don’t know! I imagine there are still things you’ve never seen, but you never know if they'll come out. Daft Punk had a principle during its existence: if it’s not good, then you don’t keep it. But I think it's also good to be able to preserve a connection with the fans, especially with behind-the-scenes images and sharing things we’ve never been able to show before. We can all continue to enjoy Daft Punk together.