Fortnite’s newest Rick Astley-inspired emote was released just one week ago and the company has already rolled out an update to allow PC players to mute the music in response to complaints.
Content creators were getting copyright claims over the licensed track that plays over when the emote is used, according to The Verge.
Whenever a player uses the “Never Gonna” emote part of Astley’s famous song “Never Gonna Give You Up” begins to play and the character begins dancing along.
This has caused issues for a number of YouTube creators who play Fortnite and uploaded videos, as the music from the “Never Gonna” emote is caught by YouTube’s copyright detection system. Essentially the company that owns the rights to Astley’s song were claiming copyright infringement and creators weren’t able to earn any money on their videos, according to The Verge.
This setting to mute the emote is currently only available on PCS, however, Epic plans to bring it to all other platforms eventually.
“Starting in the 12.00 patch, creators playing on PC have the ability to mute licensed emote music and sounds,” a tweet from Fortnite’s official support Twitter account reads.
“This option will be available on all platforms in a future patch. Navigate to the Audio Options in the Settings menu to enable this feature.”
There are a number of full-time streamers and creators on platforms like YouTube and Twitch who solely product Fortnite content. If they are unable to profit or monetize their content due to copyright infringement this causes financial issues that can affect both creators and viewers.
Despite the fact that it is clear that Epic had licensed Astley’s song, which has defined early memes for an entire generation of people, the company did not think of how this would affect its creator base. Thus giving the players the ability to mute the music might take away the fun of the emote; however, it is a good compromise for the time being. As it also allows Epic to pursue other popular tracks for Fortnite while ensuring the creator community doesn’t get affected by it.
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock