Epic Games Still Wants Nintendo Characters in Fortnite

ign.com:

From Star Wars to Naruto, Epic Games has managed to nab all kinds of brand crossovers for its skins and characters - and it still hasn't counted out going for Nintendo.

Sax Persson, Epic's head of ecosystem in Fortnite, recently told Axios how difficult their attempts have been to add Mario, Princess Peach, Donkey Kong, Link, Zelda, Samus, and other characters from the Nintendo universe to Fortnite's ever-expanding roster of skins and avatars. He explained that Epic's efforts to convince Nintendo to allow the company to insert Mario and the gang into Fortnite have gone nowhere.

"I don't know what the word for, like, making diamonds is," Persson said. "Nintendo has their strategy and we have our strategy, and we hope at some point [to use their characters]. Our players would love it."

Over the years, Fortnite has managed to secure characters from across the gaming and entertainment industries, including Master Chief from Halo, Kratos from God of War, Indiana Jones, John Wick, Spider-Man, Rick from Rick and Morty, and more recently Peter Griffin from Family Guy. The game has also gotten skins based on celebrities, including tennis player Naomi Osaka, Olympic snowboarder and gold medalist Chloe Kim, singer Ariana Grande, and rapper Eminem.

During The Game Awards, Epic Games launched LEGO Fortnite within the base game as a direct result from the company's partnership with LEGO.

So why has Nintendo not budged on allowing its characters in the metaverse game? Speculation has largely swirled around the fact that Fortnite is a multiplatform game allowing, for example, PlayStation character Kratos to run around on Xbox consoles. It's possible that Nintendo doesn't want the same deal for its beloved characters.

Kit Ellis, a former