Fortnite's Y-Wing Gliders Have an Interesting Design Omission

To promote Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Disney and Epic Games have collaborated on a Star Wars X Fortnite crossover. The promotion has given Fortnite fans some very cool and interesting tie-ins over the last month, or so. From character skins to the airing of an exclusive clip in the game before the latest film's release, Disney has allowed the developer to include an impressive amount of Star Wars content. However, one Reddit user has found an interesting omission: R2 units. Fortnite players can acquire a very cool Y-Wing glider, but the area where the droid would normally appear is notably empty.

The new Y Wing glider looks amazing, but one small detail is missing... from r/FortNiteBR

The original poster muses that perhaps Disney was unwilling to license the R2 units for some particular reason. However, user Derza_B posits a more logical explanation: the glider is actually based on the Y-Wing that Zorri Bliss pilots in The Rise of Skywalker. Since that particular ship did not have an astromech droid in the film, it's not actually missing anything; it's technically more faithful to the film, upon further inspection!

Regardless of what has or hasn't appeared in the promotion, it truly speaks to the popularity of Fortnite that Disney has used the game so much for promotional purposes. While Fortnite has certainly been used to build hype for films in the past, Star Wars is an entirely different animal. It's one of the biggest brands in the world, and The Rise of Skywalker will likely gross a hefty amount of money for Disney, after all is said and done. As Fortnite's userbase continues to grow, it will be interesting to see if more brands embrace anything near the level of this sort of tie-in event.

Developed by Epic Games, Fortnite has quickly grown into one of the biggest games in the world. Released in 2017, Fortnite has won a plethora of awards since, including Best Multiplayer Game at The Game Awards 2018. With a number of registered users in the hundreds of millions, the game is an unabashed cultural phenomenon. While Star Wars can certainly say the same thing, time will tell if Fortnite manages to find the same type of staying power.

Have you participated in any of the Star Wars X Fortnite events? What do you think of the promotion? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!