Epic Games has officially approved the creation of a virtual Holocaust Museum within the massively popular video game Fortnite.
The Messenger reports that the development of a virtual Holocaust Museum within the megapopular video game Fortnite has received formal approval from Epic Games.
“The first Holocaust Museum in Fortnite has been approved today by Epic Games,” announced Luc Bernard, the indie game developer behind the project. “Super proud that we will be the first to bring something like this to Fortnite’s 400 million + players.”
The first Holocaust Museum in Fortnite has been approved today by Epic Games.
Super proud that we will be the first to bring something like this to Fortnite’s 400 million + players.
80% of Americans haven’t visited a Museum. So this is game changing. pic.twitter.com/6FINFhi1fY
— Luc Bernard (@LucBernard) August 1, 2023
The virtual museum, named “The Voices of the Forgotten,” will feature a variety of exhibits, including pictures, texts, and accounts of the harsh living conditions faced by persecuted Jewish people during the Holocaust. The museum will also spotlight heroes who resisted Hitler’s oppressive regime, such as German-born French Resistance fighter Marianne Cohn and Iranian diplomat Abdol Hossein Sardari.
“80% of Americans haven’t visited a Museum,” Bernard noted, emphasizing the potential impact of this virtual space. “So this is game changing.”
In addition to recounting the atrocities of the Holocaust, the museum will include material on the 761st, the all-Black U.S. tank battalion that crossed into Germany and helped liberate Jews during the war, as well as members of the LGBT community.
The museum’s structure is designed to resemble a real building, and developers have implemented methods to disable the normal gameplay of Fortnite within the museum’s confines.
“This will completely change Holocaust education in terms of the classrooms that don’t have the privilege to be in big cities can now visit Museums too,” Bernard tweeted, highlighting the potential for the virtual museum to revolutionize the way history is taught.
The creation of “The Voices of the Forgotten” follows a trend of using Fortnite as an educational tool. In 2021, Epic Games collaborated with the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center in Chicago, along with the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. estate, to create a virtual civil rights museum called March Through Time.
While the Martin Luther King Jr. exhibit was an official partnership, “Voices of the Forgotten” is an independent project that has simply received approval from the game’s creators.
Bernard’s innovative approach to education through gaming is not his first venture into this territory. Earlier this year, he published “The Light in the Darkness,” a free, narrative-focused game centered around the Holocaust.
Read more at the Messenger here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan