Fortnite’s ‘Titan Hand’ shows that Epic is the gold standard for in-game events
Fortnite feels alive and weird right now, and it’s all because of one mysterious giant hand.
The game’s “Titan Hand” event, as players have dubbed it, began when fans first discovered digital glitches on March 1, with players seeing dirt and debris all the way up the flying Battle Bus. Closer inspection revealed that gigantic fissures had emerged from a crater in the ground. Returning players found every day brought a new development. Later, a giant stone hand pushed its way through the crust of Fortnite, next to a giant chest. This box raised one question: can you open it?
Developer Epic Games is hosting this mysterious event to mark the end of the current patch and usher in the Chapter 5 Season 2 update that will be released this Friday. Compared to December’s world-ending and star-studded event, a giant hand doesn’t seem all that remarkable. Still, the Titan Hand piqued the interest of both old and active players and has the internet in its grip. It has become the talk of the town online, where a single video showing the hand can yield more 1.6 million views on TikTok. The Titan Hand mystery has been the subject of rumors over the break, and to me it’s a great example of how to design a live event in a game.
Each development is rolled out daily and with little to no heads-up. Epic Games hasn’t given it much publicity either, aside from one cheeky post on X here and there. Leakers predicted some aspects of the event somewhat unsuccessfully, so any change has come as a real surprise to the public. While some of this may simply be a matter of Epic restricting information, what strikes me is that people then have to discover changes through word of mouth through social media platforms. I myself read about the news of a Fortnite Discord server that tracked and discussed the changes every day.
These types of events don’t just provide a flashy in-game show. They can also introduce new interaction elements that shake up player expectations. When the box showed up, it contained a huge health bar that needed to be reduced over an entire day. This forced players to work together to open it, rather than focusing solely on killing other players and winning the entire match. Furthermore, when players finally managed to open the box from the giant’s hand, the ethereal contents of the game world were messed up. Suddenly, players found themselves able to build structures in Zero Build mode. It’s playful, but moments like this also remind fans that everything can change at any moment.
Slowly, the developers at Epic Games have honed the secret sauce that makes for an immersive live event Fortnite. In winter, players could see a meteor slowly descending on the land in the sky, which culminated in a complete overhaul of the map and also a concert by rapper Eminem. In 2022, the developers surprised players by simply taking away building, which had long been a core gameplay mechanic. Depending on how it turns out, the Titan Hand might not be the “coolest” Fortnite event, but it does show that the developers understand how to consistently create interesting living gaming events in 2024.
In today’s video game world, it’s difficult to capture an actual sense of surprise or wonder. The day a game comes out, many sites have guides on how to play, and data miners can dig through the source code to find new information. Events like this take advantage of that tendency and use it to his advantage. People weren’t sure how long the event would last, whether the hand would stand, or what would happen when the box was opened. Now the rapid exchange of information can be used to help players catch lightning in a bottle and log in for an extremely time-limited event that changes by the day. Instead of feeling like the internet has ruined a mystery, it feels like a bizarre communal experience that you can only experience if you’re plugged in.
We still don’t know much about the future of Fortnite‘s world. The significance of the Titan Hand and the contents of the chest it carried has already sparked many theories online. Many think it represents Pandora’s Box, and by shooting it and unlocking it, players have unleashed chaos for the next season. The only thing we know for sure from the teasers and leaks is that the next season will have some sort of Greek mythology theme, so the connection makes sense. So until then, players will have to gape and be in awe at the mystery that is Fortnite.