Epic Games laced up their sneakers once again with partner Nike to develop a virtual adventure for players to explore utilizing the Unreal Engine for Fortnite (UEFN) which launched on March 22nd, 2023 as a FREE creative tool for both novice and veteran developers. The creative island – Airphoria – was designed in a joint effort by Beyond Creative, Nike, and Epic Games with players tasked to recover the missing Air Max Grails and earn a FREE cosmetic reward: Air Max 1 ’86 Back Bling. It was accessible through June 27th, 2023 at 8PM EST and required players to spend at least 10 minutes within the game to be eligible for their gift. Nike last appeared in 2021 with the Jumpman Zone creative map.
The Airphoria Pack was available for 1,800 V-Bucks and included the Maxxed Out Max Outfit, Airie Outfit with Reactive Styles, Maxx Stacks Back Bling, and Pure Sole Boombox Back Bling. Players could round out their Nike experience via the Airphoria Gear Bundle for 1,300 V-Bucks which featured the Maxx Axe Pickaxe, That Ice Pickaxe, Airphoria Loading Screen, Air Wave Emoticon, Keep ’em Crispy Emote, Maxx Drop Glider, and Maxx Volume Spray. Epic Games provided players with a generous discount of 1,300 V-Bucks for this particular bundle however individual cosmetics could subsequently be procured as usual; Outfits (with Back Blings) were not available to purchase separately:
- Maxx Axe Pickaxe (800 V-Bucks) | That Ice Pickaxe (800 V-Bucks)
- Keep ’em Crispy Emote (200 V-Bucks) | Maxx Drop Glider (800 V-Bucks)
- Air Wave Emoticon | Airphoria Loading Screen | Maxx Volume Spray (Bundle Exclusive)
Players can purchase real world clothing featuring the Fortnite collaboration directly from the official Nike website for a limited time. Epic Games has already partnered with world renowned brands in the past to manufacture merchandise including Wu-Tang Clan and Ralph Lauren respectively. Those who missed out on earning the cosmetic for FREE could potentially have another chance to grab it from the Item Shop should it appear at a later date; Epic Games has not confirmed whether this will happen.
Fortnite is available now on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One X, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 Pro, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch Lite, Windows PC, and Android devices – iOS compatibility is available through GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming.