Fortnite dev reveals reason why Metroid's Samus didn't join the game, says Nintendo was 'hung up' about its characters being on other platforms

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Nintendo wanted skin exclusivity

Metroid Prime
(Image credit: Nintendo)

A former Epic Games developer has revealed why Metroid's playable protagonist Samus Aran never joined Fortnite.

Fortnite's character roster has grown exponentially over the years, from original Epic designs to introducing the likes of John Wick to Geralt of Rivia, to collaborating with big names like Star Wars and Marvel to offer up entire casts from popular movies and TV shows. 

We've even seen PlayStation and Xbox icons Kratos and Master Chief make an appearance, and more recently Avatar: The Last Airbender. It doesn't look like Epic Games will be slowing down with its collaborations just yet and it seems just about any company is willing to partner with the Fortnite developer; aside from just one.

For years, players have wondered when Nintendo will finally decide to bring its characters to Fortnite, especially following PlayStation and Xbox's continued collaborative work with Epic, but it doesn't seem like it's going to happen any time soon.

In 2021, however, court documents from the Epic vs. Apple trial were revealed, detailing plans for Epic to add Samus Aran to the battle royale, among others, but she never was.

According to former Epic Games chief creative officer, Donald Mustard, the collaboration didn't work out because Nintendo didn't want to see its characters on any other platform aside from its own.

"They got really hung up on their characters showing up on platforms that weren't their platforms," Mustard said in an interview with Game File. "They would be thrilled to have Nintendo characters in Fortnite, but just only if it's on their platform."

This suggests that Nintendo would've collaborated if only the Samus skin appeared exclusively on Nintendo Switch, which Mustard says went against Epic's vision for the game.

"For me and for all of Epic, we’re like, ‘That is an absolute must," he said. "We want to make sure that Fortnite is the same experience, no matter what screen or device you're playing on,'."

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