Warframe's massive 1999 expansion is shaping up to be quite a quirky one, as MMO players must prepare to face off against an Infested, choreographed boy band boss fight, all thanks to an experience its creative director had on Napster back in the 90s.
In Warframe, the Infested are mutated enemy creatures that've been taken over by parasites. They're pretty horrifying, but making a boy band of them is simultaneously incredibly funny and also very fitting for the expansion's 90s theme.
"We try and add boss fight content, and we try and tailor it to a specific style," creative director Rebecca Ford tells GamesRadar+ in an interview for TennoCon 2024. "And when we were approaching how we could do something with the Infested that felt 90s, there was this really instant, 'Oh, well, make an Infested boy band' moment that made sense to us because we wanted to give players, instead of a one-on-one boss fight, a group fight. And what better than a choreographed boy band group?"
It all fits perfectly, but the creative director had some personal experience fuelling her vision, too. "I think the first virus I ever got on my computer in 1999 was trying to download a boy band song through Napster," she says. "And that always stuck with me, like how desperately being someone who wanted to consume boy band music ruined my family computer. So that's kind of where it came from."
That's not all that Warframe: 1999 is bringing with it, either, because it's even adding an instant messaging dating system so we can get closer to the Hex syndicate characters. I'm guessing we probably won't be able to date the Infested boy band members, though.
Warframe: 1999 still doesn't have an exact release date, but it's set to launch at some point this winter.