Former Fortnite boss Donald Mustard has finally revealed why the game’s previous collaboration with the Metroid series from Nintendo never came to be. Back in 2021, leaks stemming from Epic Games showed that the developer had planned to bring Samus Aran, the main protagonist from the Metroid franchise, to Fortnite at some point in time. However, as months continued to pass, Samus never ended up joining Fortnite, which left players with questions about why the collab fell apart. Now, roughly three years later, we finally have official word on the matter.
Speaking to Game File, Mustard opened up about what it was like to try to work with Nintendo when he was still in charge of Fortnite. Mustard, who left Epic Games in 2023, indicated that Nintendo was more than fine with lending Samus to appear in Fortnite. However, this came with the caveat that only those playing on Nintendo Switch would be able to see the character’s skin. This proved to be a problem on Epic’s end as the Fortnite developer wants the experience it offers to be identical across all platforms. As a result, Nintendo and Epic couldn’t strike a deal, which is why no characters tied to the brand have ever come to the battle royale game.
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“They got really hung up on their characters showing up on platforms that weren’t their platforms,” Mustard said. “They would be thrilled to have Nintendo characters in Fortnite, but just only if it’s on their platform. 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.’”
Assuming that neither Nintendo nor Epic are willing to budge in their current stances, it seems likely that Nintendo might never be represented in Fortnite in any capacity. Given how willing competitors like Xbox and PlayStation have been to lend their own characters to Fortnite, fans have continued to hold out hope that Nintendo would collaborate with the game one day. For the time being, though, this seems like nothing more than a pipe dream.
