News

Fortnite to launch new Martin Luther King ‘I Have A Dream’ experience

by Caroline Vakil - 08/27/21 10:43 AM ET

The online video game Fortnite is creating a new virtual experience showcasing civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech.

Set in D.C. ’63, “a reimagined Washington, DC,” according to video game company Epic Games, players can visit the National Mall and Lincoln Memorial where King made his famous speech on Aug. 28, 1963, calling for racial justice in the U.S. and imagining what racial equality would look like in the U.S. in the future.

The video game, called March Through Time, was created by Fortnite community members and presented by TIME Studies, Epic Games community manager Ryan Broseker said in a PlayStation blog.

A PlayStation trailer for the video game appears to show players being able to go to the Lincoln Memorial to listen to the speech, holding picket signs and cheering. The trailer also appears to show players at a museum exhibit showcasing the civil rights movement in the U.S.

“The Experience will also feature museum-inspired points of interest and quests you can complete with other players. These quests should bring an important reminder that relates to Dr. King’s speech: We move forward when we work together,” Broseker wrote.

The new video game has already received some negative reactions on social media, with some who found the idea of King’s speech featured on a video game bizarre while a few worried that King would be remembered by younger generations first as a character in a video game.