Fortnite is a very successful live-service battle royale game. In fact, it is unmistakably one of the most played battle royale games of recent times. This game took its developer and publisher, Epic Games, to new heights of popularity. After seven years of its launch, it remains the same popular game that it was years ago, all thanks to the constant updates and numerous crossovers.
Over time, a bunch of companies have brought their respective properties to this game. They brought their characters, they allowed items themed around their IPs to feature in this game, and they have even allowed massive events based on those IPs in this game. From characters from Star Wars to superheroes from the DC universe, everyone has made an appearance in this game. All but Samus Aran.
There’s a reason Samus Aran never made it to Fortnite’s Island
Samus Aran is a great character; she is a strong space trooper who goes from planet to planet, defeating strange alien enemies. Over the years, she has been featured in two separate series of games. One is the 2D Metroid games that are pure Metroidvanias; the other is the Metroid Prime series of first-person shooter games.
She is recognized by most gamers around the world as an icon in sci-fi games. She has a gun; she deals with weird enemies; and she is pretty quick when she moves. She is basically the perfect subject to be introduced in Fortnite Battle Royale.
But this never happened, and the reason for this is pretty annoying yet obvious. Samus Aran is Nintendo’s character; they control what games she is featured in. They initially did not mind the idea of her being featured in Fortnite, but they backed out once they found out she would be featured in Fortnite on other platforms.
Donald Mustards official statement on a lack of Samus in Fortnite:
“They got really hung up on their characters showing up on platforms that weren't their platforms,” Mustard says. Fortnite ran on all consoles and PC, even mobile at the time, meaning all the crossover characters… pic.twitter.com/P2BXFfp7aa
— iFireMonkey (@iFireMonkey) April 22, 2024
This is an unusual request for a multiplatform game that is everywhere. From smartphones to the Nintendo Switch, Fortnite can be played on many platforms. It becomes very hard for Epic Games to exclude this skin from other platforms. Hence, they had to walk out of this deal.
This rejection even rubbed the former head writer of Fortnite, Donald Mustard, the wrong way. He spoke out about the fact that every character introduced in Fortnite being on all platforms was a must for him and the whole Epic Games. Hence, the deal fell through.
“They would be thrilled to have Nintendo characters in Fortnite, but just only if it’s on their platform. Epic would not okay platform-specific characters. For me and for all of Epic, we’re like, That is an absolute must. We want to make sure that Fortnite is the same experience, no matter what screen or device you’re playing on.”
It looks like Nintendo missed out on a great opportunity just because they were being a bit stubborn with their rules. If it weren’t for their rules, fans would have been experiencing Fortnite with Samus Aran as their main character.
Here’s hoping this discussion starts again sometime in the future, and this time Nintendo makes slight changes to their rules.
They might not be wrong in making this choice
While Nintendo’s decision might have made a bunch of their fans a bit angry, it is quite understandable that they took this stance. After all, Nintendo is known for its explosive exclusives. They are known to sell in millions, all thanks to their exclusivity.
Maybe they thought that their decision to allow Samus to appear on other platforms would rub their hardcore fans the wrong way.
