For years, Fortnite has felt like the ultimate digital toy box. You can watch master assassin John Wick team up with Arianna Grande to fight Darth Vader. But for all of its massive pop-culture crossovers, the game has always had one glaring, Kyoto-shaped hole. Nintendo characters have remained stubbornly absent from the battle royale.
That might finally be about to change.
A flurry of new industry reports suggests Epic Games is in the final stages of brokering a deal with Nintendo. The goal? To bring iconic Nintendo characters to Fortnite as playable skins. According to insiders close to the negotiations, the historic crossover is being timed to coincide with the highly anticipated launch of Nintendo’s next console, widely referred to as the Switch 2.
The Long Road to a Nintendo Crossover
This is not the first time Epic has tried to get Nintendo on board. During the 2021 Epic v. Apple court battle, internal documents leaked to the public, revealing Epic’s ambitious wish list for cosmetic collaborations. On that list was Samus Aran, the bounty hunter protagonist of the Metroid series.
The deal ultimately fell through. According to former Epic Games executives, Nintendo was willing to let Samus join the roster under one strict condition: the skin could only be seen by players on Nintendo Switch hardware. On other platforms like PlayStation, Xbox, or PC, the character would appear as a default Fortnite skin.
Epic, which prides itself on seamless cross-platform play and universal visibility for all cosmetics, declined. They did not want players paying for a skin that their friends on other consoles could not even see. Since then, discussions have remained at a quiet standstill. Until now.
Why the Switch Successor Changes Everything
So, why is Nintendo seemingly changing its tune? It all comes down to the launch of their next console. While the original Nintendo Switch was a runaway success, launching a successor is always a massive financial risk. Nintendo needs a powerhouse marketing campaign to convince over 140 million Switch owners to upgrade.
A high-profile partnership with Fortnite, which boasts over 200 million monthly active users, is a guaranteed way to capture the attention of younger gamers. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement. Epic gets the ultimate crown jewel for its crossover library, and Nintendo gets a massive billboard for its new hardware inside the world’s most popular game.
While it is still unclear which characters will lead the charge, industry speculation points to a few obvious candidates:
- Samus Aran: Given the history of previous talks and her sci-fi aesthetic, the Metroid heroine fits the gunplay of Fortnite perfectly.
- Link and Zelda: The heroes of Hyrule are no strangers to combat and would fit easily into Fortnite’s fantasy-themed seasons.
- Mario: Though less likely due to his family-friendly image, Mario remains Nintendo’s ultimate mascot. If he does make the leap, expect a more stylized, cartoonish implementation.
A Shift in Nintendo’s Conservative Philosophy
Historically, Nintendo has guarded its intellectual property with extreme ferocity. They rarely let their characters appear on non-Nintendo platforms, with very few exceptions like mobile spin-offs or movies. However, the success of the Super Mario Bros. Movie and the expansion of Super Nintendo World theme parks show a company increasingly comfortable with letting outsiders play with its toys.
If this Fortnite deal is indeed finalized, it will represent the most significant shift in Nintendo’s digital licensing strategy in decades. Allowing a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X player to run around as a Nintendo character is a barrier many thought would never fall.
Neither Epic Games nor Nintendo has officially commented on the reports. However, with the Switch successor expected to be revealed in the coming months, fans might not have to wait much longer to see if they can finally drop into Battle Royale as the Hero of Time.
