Highlights
- Epic Games has attempted to negotiate with Nintendo to include its iconic characters in Fortnite, but has been unsuccessful so far.
- Fortnite has collaborated with various pop culture brands and IPs, including anime properties and real-life musicians.
- Despite the desire of players to see Nintendo characters in Fortnite, it is unlikely to happen due to Nintendo’s family-friendly image and strategic considerations. However, Epic Games still hopes to use Nintendo characters in the future.
An Epic Games executive has explained that they have tried negotiating with Nintendo in order to add some of its iconic characters to Fortnite, though with no success yet. Epic Games’ third-person shooter has become one of the largest names in gaming, bolstered by the amount of collaborations with pop culture brands, IPs, and icons since its 2017 launch. Six years after Fortnite‘s release, new skins, game modes, and seasonal content have been added to the game for fans to partake in, making it one of the biggest crossover games.
There is seemingly no end to what company, IP, or pop culture figure Fortnite has looked to collaborate with. This ranges from anime properties like My Hero Academia, Dragon Ball, and Naruto to real-life musicians like Eminem, The Weeknd, and Ariana Grande. Various video games have also been represented as character skins in Fortnite, from Metal Gear‘s Solid Snake, Halo‘s Master Chief, and even Street Fighter characters like Ryu and Chun-Li. One company Epic Games has revealed that it has been trying to negotiate with in the past is Nintendo, attempting to get its characters into the mega-crossover battle royale.
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In an interview with Axios, Epic Games executive Saxs Persson reveals that the publisher has tried negotiating with the Japanese game giant more than once to include Nintendo characters in Fortnite. According to Persson, Epic Games pushed Nintendo for a collaboration, though the negotiations seemed to be pretty one-sided, based on Persson’s comment. “I don’t know what the word for, like, making diamonds is,” Persson said.
Despite the number of players who would love to see Nintendo’s characters in Fortnite, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen in the future. Nintendo is a family-friendly brand first and foremost, and it’s unlikely the Japanese giant would want to see its characters getting shot, doing any of Fortnite‘s animations that might reflect badly on the company, or appearing on rival platforms. Even though a collaboration between Nintendo and Fortnite will likely never happen, Epic Games still wants to try adding Nintendo’s characters to the roster of skins. “Nintendo has their strategy and we have our strategy, and we hope at some point to use their characters,” Perrson said. “Our players would love it,” he added.
Nintendo has their strategy and we have our strategy, and we hope at some point to use their characters. Our players would love it.
Perrson comments that he doesn’t expect the character crossovers to slow down anytime soon and how the recent addition of age ratings for certain islands in Fortnite has been a big boon. This implementation allows for greater crossover opportunities that had never been thought of before, such as the new LEGO Fortnite mode added in Chapter 5 Season 1. For the time being, Fortnite and Nintendo characters are a collaboration that is off the table.
Fortnite
Fortnite is a massively popular game that has several modes, the most famous of which is the online battle royale mode. In this mode, players collect items, build structures, and battle it out to be the ultimate victor.
- Released
- July 25, 2017
- Genre(s)
- Survival , Battle Royale
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- ESRB
- T for Teen – Violence
