I walked into Fortnite’s ESPN Islands for the first time and froze. I was standing in the lobby of a cavernous three-story building that was essentially a digital embodiment of ESPN, the TV network dedicated to all things sports. In fact, it looked like the set for SportsCenter—the clean lines and classic red, black, and gray colors of ESPN’s flagship news program—had been set free and allowed to grow into a building. 

Ahead of me was SportsCenter's famous curved anchor desk and, just behind it, a big video screen where SportsCenter Anchors Randy Scott and Gary Striewski were hyping up the experience from the actual SportsCenter studio. 

There are a ton of things to do here, starting with the flagship Touchdown Rush ESPN Football Island experience (Island Code 4481-0077-4190), where players team up, enter the ESPN football stadium, and battle to move their payload—a gigantic football—downfield to score a touchdown. In between the end zones, you’ll find rocky hills, a moat of lava, and a swarm of well-armed opponents. 

I explored while I queued up for a game of Touchdown Rush. The area is full of minigames, like the Boxtagon (where you can square off in the ring against opponents) and a bunch of sports-themed minigames (like a football passing simulator filled with obstacles). Also, I couldn’t help but role-play as a football. I hopped onto an ATV, accelerated down a ramp, and flew over the football field through the giant goalpost in the distance. 

The more I played, the more experience I earned, and soon I was wandering around with a giant green football helmet and a foam finger declaring that I might be the proverbial number one. 

And that’s just one of Fortnite's ESPN-themed Islands. 

There’s also ESPN8 The Ocho: Obstacle Sprint (Island Code 9442-4922-3834), a gravity-defying obstacle course in which spinning, shaky, slippery platforms require you to ledge-jump, roll-land, and scramble your way on an upward journey to the top of the stadium, vying for the fastest time and a spot on the leaderboard. 

And there’s Dunk to Win ESPN Basketball Island (Island Code 5265-7665-9581). Dunk to Win, inspired by capture the flag, reimagines basketball as a competitive shooter where teams push down the court to score with a giant basketball. In Swing Shot, meanwhile, you ride around in Fortnite's Baller vehicles and try to get through moving hoops. 

I returned to the anchor desk and asked to watch the intro cutscene again. SportsCenter and NHL on ESPN Host Arda Öcal took over my screen and narrated a flyover of ESPN Island. Öcal isn’t just a narrator. He’s a passionate fan of sports, esports, and Fortnite itself. Öcal’s path to ESPN twisted from a degree in Mathematics to NBA, NHL, MMA, and WWE commentary—and Fortnite was there from his official beginning. 

“When I got hired full-time by ESPN in 2019, my very first appearance on SportsCenter came at Arthur Ashe Arena covering the Fortnite World Cup,” he said. “I did several segments and interviewed Bugha after he won. Still a bucket list kind of moment. You dream of contributing to SportsCenter, and the first time I was able to do that after getting hired was covering Fortnite. So cool.”

During development of ESPN Islands, Kevin Lopes had an opportunity for Öcal. Lopes runs the ESPN Edge team, which is dedicated to innovating sports broadcast technology. It was that team, for example, that made Öcal the first SportsCenter anchor to broadcast in VR. 

“He asked me if I’d like to be the in-game announcer for the different game modes and I couldn’t say yes fast enough,” Öcal said. Not long after, Arda Öcal stepped into the recording booth for ESPN’s Football Island.

“I had a script of different lines that were needed, like instructions and different reactions that would be sprinkled throughout the games when different things happened—like when a touchdown was scored and so on. But I definitely had a lot of room to make the phrases my own, infuse my personality into it, and drop some references. If you play on the islands enough, you’ll definitely hear a Star Wars reference or two.” 

Öcal doesn’t pretend that he’s a great Fortnite player, but that doesn’t stand in the way of his love for the game or the islands. He’s particularly proud of making it through ESPN8 The Ocho: Obstacle Sprint, even if it took him 20 minutes. And as you might expect from a guy who loves sports, competition plays a big role. 

“We did one event where I teamed up with Randy Scott and Gary Striewski (who are also seen on ESPN Island) and I will say this: I will never squad up in Fortnite with those two bots ever again. Nothing but Ls,” he said. “They kept getting one-shotted.”

You can find all of ESPN’s Fortnite creations—collaborations between ESPN, Disney Games, Epic Games, and developer Meta4 Interactive, created with Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN)—by searching for ESPN in Fortnite or using the Island Codes above. And you won’t have to go far to find the grateful Fortnite fan Arda Öcal. 

“I would love everyone to know how dear to my heart the ESPN Islands are, and all of my amazing memories surrounding Fortnite,” he said. “I’m not great at the game, but I love watching people play, especially at events with athletes that love the game. I’ve interviewed a ton of competitive Fortnite players and streamers over the years, and I find it fascinating how they view the game and how they approach it. I hope that Fortnite events and [playgrounds] like the islands stay a part of my career for as long as the community will have me!”

Fortnite is available on the Epic Games Store.