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Adding Nintendo characters to Fortnite would be a dream come true for many gamers. Unfortunately, this may never happen. While Nintendo has many iconic characters that have left a long-lasting mark on the gaming industry, the company is reluctant to collaborate with others. This includes Epic Games, despite Fortnite’s meteoric rise and impressive player count.
Epic tried to collaborate with Nintendo, but these efforts were shut down by the Japanese giant. Donald Mustard, former chief creative officer at Epic Games, recently had an interview with Stephen Totilo of Game File, revealing why Nintendo refused to collaborate with Fortnite. Before we get into details, check out our guide on how to unlock free Fortnite skins, including Champion Siren.
This is why we may never see Nintendo characters in Fortnite
Back in 2021, we got one of the biggest Fortnite leaks from the Epic Games v. Apple trial. Several documents came out, revealing Epic’s plan for the future of the game. This plan included new game modes, characters, and much more. Unsurprisingly, Samus Aran, one of Nintendo’s most popular characters, was shown as one of the potential Fortnite collaborations.
Three years later, Samus Aran is still not in Fortnite. It turns out that Nintendo has special conditions to add their characters to the popular battle royale title, and these are not the conditions Epic Games was willing to accept. In his first interview since leaving Epic, Donald Mustard shared a lot of interesting details during his tenure with the company, including a reason why Nintendo characters have never come to Fortnite.
“They got really hung up on their characters showing up on platforms that weren’t their platforms. They would be thrilled to have Nintendo characters in Fortnite, but just only if it’s on their platform.”
Donald Mustard
The Fortnite maestro also added that Epic Games did not want this, as the goal was to make the game feel the same on every system. Mustard called this “an absolute must,” which is why the two companies failed to reach the deal. After all, it does feel great to play as Master Chief on PlayStation or as Kratos on Xbox. However, we are hoping that, at some point, we will get at least a few Nintendo characters in Fortnite.
