Nintendo notoriously keeps its IPs close to its heart — it’s very particular in the products that its treasured IPs show up in. While Epic Games has secured partnerships with the likes of Sony and Microsoft, it’s been an uphill battle to woo Nintendo in letting it use its golden child in Fortnite.
As reported by Axios, Fortnite ecosystem head Saxs Persson explained that if Nintendo did come around, its battle royale players would love it. Unfortunately, Nintendo has its own strategy and at least for the time being, it doesn’t have room for Epic’s flagship live-service game. Now, granted, many may be completely fine with that as the game itself isn’t everyone’s cup of tea thanks in large part to it really kicking off the games as a service model we see today.
If Epic could secure a partnership, though, that would be a huge win for the American game dev, considering its core audience skews on the younger side. Basically, having skins of popular icons like Mario, Link, Donkey Kong, and perhaps Zelda would certainly liven things up a bit. At this point, major gaming icons, including Kratos, Spider-Man, and Master Chief have all found their way into the same metaverse, and with Epic’s recent partnership with LEGO, even more is there to explore.
If we had to guess, Nintendo is probably never going to let its massive IPs find its way on Fortnite, it just doesn’t seem like the Japanese giant’s style. We could be wrong, but this battle royale’s been a big deal for a good few years now with no indication of any sort of partnership on the horizon.