Ben Affleck plays Fortnite, gets destroyed by 12-year-olds, and then argues with them in voice chat. That is a real sentence about a real Oscar-winning filmmaker, and honestly it might be the most relatable thing any Hollywood celebrity has ever said.
Speaking on the New Heights podcast, Affleck opened up about his gaming habits in a way that will feel deeply familiar to anyone who has ever queued into a lobby and immediately regretted it.
From the lobby to the big screen
The conversation started because Affleck's new Netflix thriller, Animals, features a character wearing a fuzzy bunny mask. When asked where that costume idea came from, Affleck pointed directly at Fortnite. His son had been showing him skins and kept calling them "tough," which Affleck found genuinely puzzling at first.
"I thought these costumes are so kind of random and unusual, that's what I based the costumes on," Affleck said. "I thought he'd be getting them off games."
Here's the thing: that creative leap actually makes a lot of sense. Fortnite has spent years building one of the most eclectic skin rosters in gaming, stacking everything from banana suits and alien parasites to licensed crossovers from Marvel, Star Wars, and beyond. The game's visual identity is built around the idea that anything can look threatening if the context is right. A bunny mask in a dark thriller? Fortnite players already get it.
The voice chat incident that explains everything
The more entertaining part of the interview came when Affleck described his actual experience playing shooters online. He plays Madden and NBA 2K regularly, but also logs time in first-person shooters, which has apparently given him an inflated sense of his own abilities.
"I always play games. I play first person shooter games, so I think I'm good, and then 12-year-olds just fk you up," Affleck said. "I try to come out and I'm like, 'Here I come.' I get killed right away, and then they taunt you, like, 'You suck. Fk you!' I end up getting in arguments. 'F**k you! I don't suck! I'm a grown man!'"
The "I'm a grown man" defense is not a winning strategy in Fortnite lobbies. It never has been. But the fact that Affleck is out there attempting it is genuinely endearing.
What this actually says about Fortnite's reach
Affleck's comments are a small but telling indicator of how far Fortnite's cultural footprint has stretched. The game is no longer just a battle royale title that teenagers play after school. Its skin ecosystem has become a genuine reference point in mainstream creative work, the kind of visual shorthand that a director can pull from when designing a villain's costume.
The game's current season has leaned hard into that identity, with the Simpsons takeover bringing a cel-shaded Springfield aesthetic to the island. If you want to stay sharp in that environment, the Fortnite Simpsons season guide covers weapon tips, location strategies, and the hidden details worth knowing.
Affleck's son calling those skins "tough" is exactly the kind of cultural currency Epic Games has been building for years. The fact that it filtered into a Netflix film's costume design is just the latest proof that Fortnite's art direction punches well above its weight.
Animals releases on Netflix on October 9, 2026. If you want to get a feel for the Fortnite aesthetic that reportedly inspired it, the Fortnite strategy guides are a solid place to start exploring the island.
