Republic Records is stepping into the gaming arena in a major way.
The label has announced a strategic partnership with developer Nothing Projects Interactive to launch OnlyHands, a real-time mobile fighting game that blends music, combat, and pop culture in a format many are already calling the spiritual successor to Def Jam: Fight for NY.
Scheduled for release in Q4 2025, OnlyHands will feature playable characters modeled after Republic’s roster of artists, with their music powering in-game battles. While the label hasn’t yet revealed which stars will appear as avatars, the roster includes names like Nicki Minaj, Kid Cudi, Ariana Grande, Lorde, Taylor Swift and others, leaving room for everything from pop icons to rap heavyweights to step into the digital ring.
Avery Lipman, Founder of Republic Records and Vice Chairman/COO of Republic Collective, said the partnership reflects a shared mission to push cultural boundaries.
“They’ve created a new paradigm with OnlyHands,” Lipman said. “It’s a seamless platform for the integration of gaming, music, and culture.”
Nothing Projects Interactive describes OnlyHands as a “music-first” ecosystem where tracks, visuals, and gameplay evolve as quickly as internet culture does. The studio is building the game on four pillars that include: combat-driven streaming, where winning a match triggers real music plays that count as streams, Playable artist avatars with movesets tied to their songs and personas, Instant content injections, allowing artists to push in cosmetics, tracks, or signature moves in real time, and a live fan economy blending streams, item drops, and in-game purchases.
CEO Zane Comer says the goal isn’t to merge two worlds, it’s to create an entirely new one: “Gaming and music were never truly separate—they just hadn’t found their native form…What we’re building isn’t a crossover, it’s a new medium.”
The game arrives as Republic and its parent company, Universal Music Group, deepen their footprint in interactive entertainment. Recent ventures include the Roblox music hub Beat Galaxy, TWICE’s metaverse fan experience, and a UMG partnership with HEAT that lets developers integrate the music of artists like Lil Wayne directly into games.
Sauce Walka, who appears in early trailers and says he’s part of the development team, hyped the game on Instagram with a post celebrating its throwback-meets-future energy.
“Proud to announce the future/present of hip-hop gaming,” he wrote. “We have been begging for a video game like this since #DefJamVendetta & #DefjamFightforNy… now it’s finally here… ‘OnlyHands’ is the elite hip-hop (open world) fighting game featuring the industry’s top artist & most influentially cultured figures in the RAPGAME‼️ Real hands will be THROWN 👊🏾👊🏽👊🏼‼️ Available 1st quarter 2026 on PC & all Mobile platforms.”
OnlyHands’ official site is already leaning into the humor and world-building of hip-hop internet culture, featuring fictional “studies,” teaser clips, and cameos from Boosie, Key Glock, Kodak Black, and others.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.complex.com ’
