Video games, a new music scene – News

Virtual concerts in video games have been around for several years. But confinement obliges, this practice intensifies and becomes popular. Whether it is an initiative on the part of large publishing companies, players or even associations, these events seem to find their audience every time. Let's go together for a quick overview of these festivities and see how they are likely to multiply in the future.

A favorable period

Confinement reduces our movement, our activities and also our leisure. The places of shows are closed, for an indefinite period in the countries concerned. That didn't stop certain bands and artists from performing in public. We were able to participate in performances of Lady Gaga, Radiohead or Christ and the Queens for free, from our sofa, thanks to streaming. Video games, a popular media at the crossroads of the arts, did not hesitate to take this opportunity to organize virtual shows in game, replacing canceled concerts and festivals. This trend attracts both young musicians and celebrities.

This month Epic Games partnered with artist Travis Scott for his Fortnite game. 12.3 million spectators responded to this concert. Also in Fortnite, a group of friends have themselves reproduced the Bikini, a Toulouse club in the hope of finding a festive atmosphere that they certainly miss. Other nightclubs have appeared in HabboCity. Boxes, neon lights, a queue to come in and the queue to reach the toilet … Everything is there. TikTok also published in Minecraft a digital copy of Elsewither, a popular club in New York.

On April 25, a punk rock festival was also invited in Minecraft. With its millions of players, the title appears as a boon for the thirty participants (Pussy Riot, Idles, Courier Club, Massive Attack). On three virtual stages, the musicians' avatars ensured their spectacle. Minecraft also hosted the American Football group on April 11.

Let's finish this part with a somewhat special French initiative. Rapper Alonzo performed live in the famous city of Los Santos from the game GTA V. To access the retransmission, we had an appointment on the Twitch channel of CaMaK. Contrary to the events cited above, players could not interact in the title of Rocksar. The game only integrated the artist’s avatar.

Older initiatives

All this news may seem quite exceptional, but in reality, video games have been the scene of these musical performances for years and years. Let's go back in time to 2006. The metavers Second Life welcomed the Duran Duran group that year. Their respective avatars held concerts, but that's not all: a dedicated universe (Duran Duran Universe) was born in 2011. The latter was maintained by some of the musicians with the help of fans. It’s a way to create a closer and more lasting bond between artists and their audience.

World of Warcraft did not wait for the arrival of a pandemic to offer its subscribers live concerts online. Since the 2000s, the Darkmoon Fair has hosted artists such as the metal group Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain and even the Black Boar. Occasional or regular meetings that find their inspiration in the Hellfest festival. These performances are surrounded by missions and are performed by Blizzard employees.

Final Fantasy XIV too transforms into a concert hall or open-air festival on a few occasions. For example, the idol group Song Birds performs regularly in this virtual universe, often with music arranged from the Final Fantasy license. The Lord of the Rings Online also offers this kind of event every week in the main city. With an instrument system directly integrated into the game, musicians perform compositions and cover some popular songs with medieval sounds. The game promotes these practices by saving scores and using bots to play multiple instruments at the same time. Minecraft is also not in its first trials. He organized the Coalchella music festival on September 23, 2018. Given its success, the game renewed the experience on May 14, 2019 with the Pixel Fest.

The public at the rendezvous

These events attract many people, especially in this period. To find out the motivations and reactions of the spectators, we spoke with some of them. All meet on point: containment helps to take the plunge : "Clearly, containment played a huge part in helping Travis Scott's concert in Fortnite. It's free, the other game modes are closed for the duration of the event, why not give it a try? Explains Alexandre. Participants can be regular players who, curious, come to watch the performance, but also fans of the artists who perform. This is the case of Karim: "I was immediately excited to see one of my favorite rappers perform from my chair. "

Unable to find their IRL friends and all that it entails emotionally, these virtual meetings mostly succeed in transporting spectators. But the sensations are not as strong either

, as Yorick recalls: "There was hype in the air for sure, it felt with the cat. But I was very far from what I could feel in a physical concert. Rudy says: "You don't feel the work or the professionalism of the artist that you can feel during a physical concert. Pierre adds: "I felt more like listening to good music with a good computer-generated clip than participating in a concert. "

Robin noted the differences and similarities between the physical and the virtual: "The body is not really invested, it misses the deafening sounds, the reverberation, the jostling, etc. (…) We took selfies in front of the artists. "He also recognizes that these initiatives have the advantage of achieving the impossible : “The virtual makes it possible to offer scenic spaces that cannot be achieved in the real world. For example, the concerts in Square Garden took place in a giant tree. "Despite the absence of physical contact, the state of communion that we find in any show seems to be very present, if we believe the various testimonies received like that of Yorick:" the aspect of unity, d belonging to a specific event was present. This idea that we are all there for the same thing. "

Whether it is an initiative by publishers and their partners, or simply players or musicians, video games succeed in bringing many people together around music. The participants told us about their enthusiasm and their desire to see such events become popular. Outside of the particular context that we live in, these concerts are a little more inclusive since it destroys geographic and economic barriers. An Internet connection is enough to participate. It is also an asset for people who have difficulty supporting the crowd. These meetings are free, but the donations collected very often serve charitable causes or associations. And if someone bothers you, you can block them most of the time. But we all know that the best in-game concerts take place every Saturday from 6 p.m., on your island square in Animal Crossing: New Horizons…