Fortnite and Sabrina Carpenter want you to come dance

The upcoming Dance With Sabrina event sounds like Fortnite’s next experiment in becoming another kind of game.

by Charles Pulliam-Moore

May 27, 2025, 2:02 PM UTC

Image: Epic Games

Charles Pulliam-Moore is a reporter focusing on film, TV, and pop culture. Before The Verge, he wrote about comic books, labor, race, and more at io9 and Gizmodo for almost five years.

Fortnite’s ongoing Sabrina Carpenter-themed Festival season is about to switch it up by inviting players to test their rhythm game skills.

Today, Epic announced the impending arrival of “Dance with Sabrina,” a new rhythm-focused gaming mode within Fortnite Festival that will run from May 30th to June 16th. Described as a “reimagined interactive music experience,” Dance with Sabrina will challenge players within the Festival Jam Stage to fill up their heart meters by matching the beat of some of Carpenter’s songs like “Espresso” and “Bed Chem” as her avatar performs them on stage.

By racking up the most hearts, Festival players will be able to “contribute to the show” during the next song in one of three roles: Dance Leader, Special Effects Pro, or Video Artist. Players who match the most beats throughout the entire event will be pictured along with Carpenter’s avatar in the Dance With Sabrina finale snapshot.

Some Just Dance-style dancing would have been very cool to see in Fortnite, but Dance with Sabrina sounds a bit more like timed button mashing with some emoting thrown in for pizazz. That doesn’t exactly seem like the most entertaining prospect, but this is part of how Epic figures out what works, and what doesn’t.

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