Fortnite getting its first Nintendo character in Metroid’s Samus Aran would have been a monumental moment for the game, but it never quite panned out, and now we might know why.
In an interview with Game File’s Stephen Totilo, former Epic Games Chief Creative Officer and lead creator on Fortnite, Donald Mustard (who was also behind the excellent Shadow Complex), spoke about the trajectory of the live service megahit, lamented the fall of its live events, and even spoke about the now-public knowledge that Samus nearly made it into the game.
That little detail was first revealed in the midst of the historic court battle between Epic Games and Apple, where supplied documentation revealed a number of proposed character skins which including Nintendo’s Samus. To this day we’d had no real confirmation of why the Metroid protagonist never made it into Fortnite, left only to assume Nintendo was entirely against it, but as the former creator explains, it could’ve happened if not for one sticking point.
“They got really hung up on their characters showing up on platforms that weren’t their platforms,” Mustard reportedly tells Titilo in the paywalled article (thanks IGN!).
“They would be thrilled to have Nintendo characters in Fortnite, but just only if it’s on their platform,” he adds. “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.”
EXCLUSIVE: I spoke with @DonaldMustard in his 1st interview since leaving Epic, where he was long-time maestro of Fortnite
Covered lots
– Fortnite origins
– rise/fall of live events
– a weirder Peely
– Keanu, "DJ," …Samus?
– Plus: A tip from Steve Jobshttps://t.co/7p2AOviEC9— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) April 22, 2024
Nintendo’s characters and even some iconic items have appeared in other games in the past, like Soul Calibur II, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Minecraft, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Rocket League, and do follow that pattern of only being available on the relevant Nintendo console, so it would very much check out that the company wanted Samus in Fortnite to be a Switch exclusive or bust. Still, it’s a shame, and we can only hope that the future holds some surprises.
