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Samus didn’t appear in Fortnite because Nintendo wanted her to be a Switch exclusive

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
m2WJ2kq.png

That’s according to former Epic Games chief creative officer Donald Mustard, who discussed the evolution of the company’s metaverse project in a recent interview with Game File.

Kratos from Sony’s God of War series and Master Chief from Microsoft’s Halo franchise joined Fortnite in December 2020 as part of Chapter 2: Season 5’s ‘Gaming Legends Series’.

Court documents published the following year as part of a legal battle between Epic and Apple revealed that the Fortnite maker had also wanted to introduce a skin based on Metroid mascot Samus, but why one never materialised hadn’t been confirmed until now.
Mustard said Nintendo declined Epic’s offer to include the character in the game.

“They got really hung up on their characters showing up on platforms that weren’t their platforms,” he said.

“They would be thrilled to have Nintendo characters in Fortnite, but just only if it’s on their platform.”
Mustard said Epic wouldn’t agree to this stipulation.

“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.’”
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
It's their character, so I guess they can do whatever they want with it

Feels a bit hypocritical though, considering that a huge part of Smash Bros success (especially the newest one) has been its inclusion of non-Nintendo characters. Cloud, Solid Snake, Sonic, Pac Man, Mega Man, Ken/Ryu, Sora, etc.
 

Generic

Member
It's their character, so I guess they can do whatever they want with it

Feels a bit hypocritical though, considering that a huge part of Smash Bros success (especially the newest one) has been its inclusion of non-Nintendo characters. Cloud, Solid Snake, Sonic, Pac Man, Mega Man, Ken/Ryu, Sora, etc.
Yeah, all companies are fine with crossovers except Nintendo :lollipop_neutral:

The eternal gatekeeping.

Sad news, we missed on zero suit Samus doing all those silly zoomer dances. :lollipop_crying:
No, we missed Samus doing this.

 
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ManaByte

Banned
This is old news. Samus was supposed to be added when they did Kratos and Master Chief. Nintendo killed it.
 

Hardensoul

Member
It's their character, so I guess they can do whatever they want with it

Feels a bit hypocritical though, considering that a huge part of Smash Bros success (especially the newest one) has been its inclusion of non-Nintendo characters. Cloud, Solid Snake, Sonic, Pac Man, Mega Man, Ken/Ryu, Sora, etc.
Is Smash on other consoles? This isn’t the same situation! All those ip owners can say no to Smash!

Nintendo said no and Epic said no to exclusive on Switch. It’s that simple!
 

jcorb

Member
That’s fucking stupid, but I understand the concern. I’m a huge fan of Nintendo, but I do think they’re over-protective of their IP’s, and particularly in this golden age of crossovers, they’re missing out on a LOT of free advertising.

Samus is a cool fucking character, getting her in front of more eyes would only strengthen the brand, which Nintendo has clearly struggled to gain traction with themselves. I daresay Metroid would make for the perfect “gateway” franchise to get the core gaming audience more into Nintendo, not just the casual stuff.

I totally understand them wanting to be super protective of the image of their main IP’s (even Link, I could understand them not wanting in Fortnite), but with Metroid, they kind of don’t have anything to lose.

Honestly, same holds true for F-Zero. Let Samus and Captain Falcon take some risks in Fortnite, it might get more gamers interested in their brands.
 

efyu_lemonardo

May I have a cookie?
It's their character, so I guess they can do whatever they want with it

Feels a bit hypocritical though, considering that a huge part of Smash Bros success (especially the newest one) has been its inclusion of non-Nintendo characters. Cloud, Solid Snake, Sonic, Pac Man, Mega Man, Ken/Ryu, Sora, etc.
It's not hypocritical, it's Nintendo protecting their IP when they're on top.

Just like MS games coming to PlayStation but Sony games not coming to Xbox isn't hypocritical of Sony. It's just smart business.
 

Saber

Gold Member
Should be pretty obvious at this point. I just hope this is not one of those PC port begging opportunist moments.
As i said.

kratos dancing makes me physically ill.
BKlaK9l.gif

🤢🤢🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

I wouldn't be surprised if Sony take this route with Kratos. This is something they would clearly do nowadays( Pejo Pejo gave a clear example of the same thing I was thinking).
 
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IDappa

Member
It's not hypocritical, it's Nintendo protecting their IP when they're on top.

Just like MS games coming to PlayStation but Sony games not coming to Xbox isn't hypocritical of Sony. It's just smart business.
Nintendo getting a cut of their character skins from Fortnite purchases while also expanding brand awareness and possibly getting more people interested in their platform/characters who haven’t seen them is smart business?.
 

efyu_lemonardo

May I have a cookie?
Nintendo getting a cut of their character skins from Fortnite purchases while also expanding brand awareness and possibly getting more people interested in their platform/characters who haven’t seen them is smart business?.
No, that's Nintendo protecting their IP when they're on top, which has consistently been their strategy for decades because they tie their value directly to their brand and IP. What I said about Sony and MS is smart business. For them.
 
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BlackTron

Member
It's their character, so I guess they can do whatever they want with it

Feels a bit hypocritical though, considering that a huge part of Smash Bros success (especially the newest one) has been its inclusion of non-Nintendo characters. Cloud, Solid Snake, Sonic, Pac Man, Mega Man, Ken/Ryu, Sora, etc.

All IP that appeared on Nintendo platforms before inclusion in Smash. If the character has not already been on Nintendo then they do not want it in the roster.

Nintendo does not allow their IP to appear on non-N platforms its nothing new. Link would never have appeared in any version of Soul Calibur 2 but theirs.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
All IP that appeared on Nintendo platforms before inclusion in Smash. If the character has not already been on Nintendo then they do not want it in the roster.

Nintendo does not allow their IP to appear on non-N platforms its nothing new. Link would never have appeared in any version of Soul Calibur 2 but theirs.
And yet, their most popular IPs such as Mario, Pokemon, and Fire Emblem all have games on Android and iOS 🤷‍♂️
 
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Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
I won’t begrudge Nintendo on their strategy, seeing as how mega successful they are. But the notion that they’re doing this out of protection for the IP is funny. Metroid has gone without a single mainline entry on multiple Nintendo platforms due to their lack of care for the IP. Samus also features in the game where you can fight the Minecraft guy so any showing of reverance kinda goes out the window there :messenger_tears_of_joy: shit I wish they cared. Dread was my goty 2021!
 

Synless

Member
I won’t begrudge Nintendo on their strategy, seeing as how mega successful they are. But the notion that they’re doing this out of protection for the IP is funny. Metroid has gone without a single mainline entry on multiple Nintendo platforms due to their lack of care for the IP. Samus also features in the game where you can fight the Minecraft guy so any showing of reverance kinda goes out the window there :messenger_tears_of_joy: shit I wish they cared. Dread was my goty 2021!
Like someone else said, it’s not about having crossover games on the switch. It’s about having characters from Nintendo playable on non-Nintendo systems.

Smash is not a comparison as you can only play it on the Switch.
 
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nial

Member
That's a net positive I'd say. Seeing Kratos doing Fortnite dances was pretty cringe. I know Fortnite is till one of the popular things on the planet still but it comes to your IP you have to draw the line somewhere.
We need to let zoomers have their own memes.
 

nial

Member
It never ceases to amaze me how people here will jump back and forth between treating Nintendo like some precious bastion of gaming, to treating them like an iron fist cut throat corporation that’s against everything fan-centric.
Like...
Nintendo: "I don't want to be associated with your shit product"
while Nintendo profits from Fortnite's success on their platform. 😅
Also, some people not realizing that they're actually thrilled with the idea of Samus being on the game, they just want her as a Switch exclusive.
 
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Dorfdad

Gold Member
Silly of Nintendo to try and restrict this, but I also respect that they aren't participating in Fortnite's IP mashup bullshit.
The amount of money Nintendo IP’s would make in Fortnite is beyond staggering, and with the cut they would get from each sale it’s crazy. Endless income from a skin in a game you don’t have to do anything for.
 

jufonuk

not tag worthy
All IP that appeared on Nintendo platforms before inclusion in Smash. If the character has not already been on Nintendo then they do not want it in the roster.

Nintendo does not allow their IP to appear on non-N platforms its nothing new. Link would never have appeared in any version of Soul Calibur 2 but theirs.
Pixel Art Link GIF by dan.bahia.dan


I think the Mario bros movie generated enough buzz and money for Nintendo

I don’t really care about Fortnite but I’m sure they made the right call.
 
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Roufianos

Member
Nintendo are such joyless cunts, ironically enough.

What harm could this possibly do to their brand, it's just free advertising.

Do they really think people will refrain from buying Switches since they're getting their Samus fix on Xbox, jeez.
 

Deft Beck

Member
I would love to see what female space warrior standin model would appear on non-Nintendo platforms if they agreed to this.
 
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