Khaby Lame may be best known for wordless videos featuring his hyper-expressive face, but make no mistakes: he’s a gamer, too. The social media juggernaut, who’s the most popular person on TikTok with over 160 million followers, just wrapped one of his most ambitious projects yet: becoming a video game character.
Lame is featured in the newest season of Epic Games’ wildly popular battle royale game Fortnite, set around a high-stakes heist. Chapter 4: Season 4, dubbed “Last Resort,” allows players to break into vaults and sneak past security cameras as Lame, after they’ve unlocked his “icon series” skin via the Battle Pass system.
“I’ve been a big ‘Fortnite’ fan for a long time. I started playing five years ago and sometimes I posted videos on YouTube or tagged Fortnite in stories. I was thrilled about this game,” Lame tells Variety, adding that he’s most often played as Black Knight in the past.
“Epic noticed and reached out to me about a year ago and asked if I would be interested in collaborating with them. My reaction was pure excitement,” he recalls. “Who doesn’t want to be an action hero in a video game? It sounded so fun!”
Lame didn’t just sign off on his likeness, though. He collaborated closely with Epic Games on getting all the details just right. “I have to say that working with the ‘Fortnite’ team was great. It was important to me to have full input on my character’s outfits, look and role,” Lame says.
“I learned a lot from the creator process. Spending the time with the team, brainstorming and sharing ideas on the outfits… Filming and capturing my body movements for in-game play. It was a great process,” he adds.
Even after his journey in development, Lame still had a visceral reaction when his skin went live in the game: “On release day, I turned on the game and started playing. It was surreal. I just stared at my character for a good 15 minutes, to be honest. I am so blessed, and I just took some time to enjoy the game and the experience.”
Lame says the fan response has been overwhelmingly positive so far. “My favorite is when my fans send me screenshots and shout-outs of them playing my character. It has been great.”
