New licensed emote audio setting for Fortnite Season 2

Following the release of the “Never Gonna” Rick-Roll emote, Fortnite creators were concerned about possible copyright infringements, however this new setting will prevent any issues going forward.

Undoubtedly one of the most hyped emotes for a long time, Epic Games Rick-Rolled the entire community to unveil “Never Gonna”. Though emotes have often used vague variations of songs in the past, this time the actual audio from Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” was licensed.

I liked a video on YouTube: Watch How This Bear Made The Unlikeliest Of Friends https://t.co/iQDd9tB0e9

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) February 15, 2020

For Fortnite content creators, this posed a bit of a problem. YouTube videos containing the emote could be automatically detected, meaning the channel receives a copyright strike. Whilst this is somewhat manageable, live streams could also be affected.

Well now, a post from the official @FortniteStatus Twitter account has announced that a new setting will be added for Season 2 that will allow players to mute “Licensed Emote Audio”. Initially this option will only be available on PC, but it will eventually appear on other platforms too.

PC Players: In the 12.00 update, we've added the ability to mute Licensed Emote Audio. This option is available in the game's Audio settings. pic.twitter.com/UHGYAlXKgH

— Fortnite Status (@FortniteStatus) February 19, 2020

When Twitch star Ali “SypherPK” Hassan replied to the tweet regarding this new setting, he was quickly messaged by an Epic employee to ask for feedback on the feature. It can only be a good sign going forward to see the developers taking an active approach to improving things for its players.

The fact that they’ve added this setting is also a fairly solid indicator that more emotes using licensed audio will be released in the future. Pretty cool if you ask me.