MILWAUKEE – Three friends have reportedly taken the opportunity to invite a much-loved, deceased squadmate on the off chance that he will carry them once again.
“I was sitting in the Fortnite lobby when we got an Xbox notification that Joe’s account had just signed on and then immediately signed out,” said local gamer Steve Caretti, 25. “I’m sure it was probably a family member just turning on the console or whatever, but we kind of egged ourselves into sending him an invite.”
Significant others in nearby rooms report hearing the party of three former highschool friends first joke, “Fortnite has LeBron James, Naruto, and maybe a portal to heaven,” and about “needing a W,” followed by an extended silence as Caretti sent an invite to the late Joseph Chandler, known on Xbox Live as JeepGrandJoey98.
“We sort of chatted while waiting for him to – and I know this won’t happen – squad up with us,” continued Caretti. “Mike joked that [Joe]’s gamertag was kind of ironic now… I know it’s been eight months since the crash but I’m personally not ready to joke about it.”
“Mike’s a good guy though don’t get me wrong, just kind of twisted but funny like that,” he added.
As for whether or not such a feat is within the realm of reality, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer stated, “It is not the policy of Xbox or Microsoft to affirm or disavow the existence of God, gods, any other underlying reality above this mortal realm, or our technology’s interfacing therein. However, I will say my personal belief is that they do have the Series X in heaven.”
A series of ministers, rabbis, and one imam were asked for their perspectives over email but did not respond. One youth pastor did return a request for comment but only noted, “There is only one ‘cross’ play that really matters, and that was when God gave his only son to save humanity…”
At press time, Steve Caretti and party were still silently, hopefully waiting on JeepGrandJoey98 to accept their invite, do that silly voice he does that gets annoying after two minutes, and make everything like how it used to be.
Photo source: YourSixGaming on YouTube
