Fortnite may have very nearly had a crossover that, on paper, sounds too good to be true. The legal proceedings for the ongoing Epic Games v. Apple case regarding the latter’s App Store practices required Epic to make a huge earnings document publicly available as part of the proceedings. Within these are references to a dream crossover between Fortnite and Metroid that would have seen Samus Aran added to the battle royale.
An official skin was not displayed in the document. Instead, Samus was listed along with several other characters who have appeared in Fortnite, as well as others that have yet to appear. The document seems to imply that a Metroid crossover was planned at one point, but ended up falling through for one reason or another. Still, this 94-page document is official, and seeing Samus listed among other notable characters — some of whom are now in Fortnite — is certainly cause for excitement.
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The document uses what appears to be generic images for the characters, not actual Fortnite-style concept art. The art chosen for Samus shows her in her iconic power suit, though it wouldn’t be a surprise to see both armored Samus and Zero Suit Samus make it into Fortnite. As the legal battle between Epic Games and Apple continues, more documents may become public that reveals more information.
The fact that this information is coming out this way is pretty unconventional. The Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit came about after Epic Games went against Apple’s policy that requiring 30 percent of any in-app purchases made within an app on its platform be paid to Apple as commission. Epic was never happy with the rate, viewing it as too high, and when it introduced its own system to circumvent this, Apple retaliated by delisting Fortnite from the App Store.
Epic went filed lawsuit against Apple in August 2020, claiming that the tech giant has a monopoly over the digital distribution of apps on Apple devices. Apple states that, because Epic Games is involved in a market that has multiple platforms besides iOS ones, Apple doesn’t have a monopoly over digital distribution.
Regardless of how this information was made public, Samus joining Fortnite would be a huge deal, especially since Nintendo is famously picky about its IP and what games its characters appear in. It’s possible, likely even, that Nintendo’s hesitancy is the reason the Metroid collaboration hasn’t come to fruition. Still, Samus would be a perfect fit for Fortnite, as she could easily take on the battle royale’s existing art style — and would make that transition far more smoothly than other Nintendo characters.
It’s interesting to note that Samus is listed in the document alongside another sci-fi action protagonist: Sarah Conner. Two other gaming characters, Halo‘s Master Chief and God of War‘s Kratos, are also mentioned, though these crossovers actually ended up happening. The two were added to Fortnite as part of the “Gaming Legends” collection, along with Street Fighter‘s Ryu and Chun-Li. This could mean that Samus was intended to join in the same promotion (which would have given all three of the major gaming first-parties an exclusive character), but that plans fell through.
This is just speculation, though, as all the 94-page document confirms is that Epic once considered adding Samus to Fortnite. Whether or not there’s a possibility of her dropping into the game is unclear. The document doesn’t confirm if Epic was ever actually in contact with Nintendo working out the details of such a crossover. If so, the two may still collaborate at some point in the future, allowing Samus (or even other Nintendo characters) to appear in a future Battle Pass.
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