Finland has teamed up with metaverse developer Zoan to create a “photorealistic” copy of Helsinki in battle royale game Fortnite, which will be used to promote Finnish Eurovision representative Käärijä.

The map will take players to a virtual recreation of Helsinki Senate Square, where they can visit a “designated dance area” and listen to a performance of ‘Cha Cha Cha’ — Finland’s Eurovision submission by Käärijä, real name Jere Pöyhönen.

”Käärijä is all about breaking boundaries, stirring the pot and creating new ways to connect with fans, so this kind of innovative promo campaign with the gaming world felt immediately like a natural and great opportunity” shared Ida Karimaa, the A&R at Monsp and Warner Music Finland.

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Nicholas Wilczynski, head of digital at Warner Music Finland, added that “Käärijä and Fortnite are a perfect match”.

Fans can check out the island by launching Fortnite, navigating to the Discovery menu, and inputting the Island Code 1530-0619-6061.

The island was created with Zoan using Fortnite‘s Unreal Editor, which launched back in March. Laura Olin, chief operating officer at Zoan, shared that creating content within Fortnite is “a game-changer for so many industries,” and hopes it “helps Finland to win at ESC”.

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The Eurovision Song Contest is set to kick off next Tuesday (May 9), and will take place at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena on behalf of Ukraine.

Ahead of the contest, Music Venue Trust and The National Lottery have announced a free gig at Liverpool’s Eurovision Village. The one-off event is scheduled for May 10 and will feature performances from The Lightning Seeds, Miles Kane, Girls Don’t Sync, and Michael Aldag.

However, fans have been encouraged to turn up early if they want to attend, as the 15,000 available tickets will be handed out for free on a first-come-first served basis.