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Discussion [Stephen Totilo] Samus Aran never made it into Fortnite because Nintendo only wanted the skin available for Nintendo Switch users

Crazy Toni said:
this reminds me of samus almost being in marvel ultimate alliance:
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You see, Nintendo rejected this because this was shown for them with PS2 prompts as a mistake by the devs. But they were always meant to be Wii exclusive.

Then Ultimate Alliance 3 would come later as Switch exclusive, and no one ever thought of having Link and Samus teaming up with Marvel characters.
 
Quite silly, but I feel like people already inferred this from both Rocket League and Minecraft's Nintendo stuff. Nice to have official confirmation though.
 
most franchises in Fortnite are already big so it's difficult to say whether it adds to sales.

Closest would be Street Fighter I guess. Can we really know if the Chun Li skin added to Street Fighter 6 sales?
 
This was to be expected, we pretty much guessed it back then, but this is a bit dumb imo. It's free advertising. (And I really wonder how Epic would have translated Samus' arm canon into the game lol, how would she have hold the guns ?)
 
Also since most kids play on PC they would probably just start emulating Metroid games which Nintendo definitely doesn't want them to do
 
Truno said:
What's the argument here?

Good for Nintendo. Let the games be niche
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I really doubt it came from a desire to have games not sell well.

And rather a desire to avoid setting a precedent.

Nintendo doesn’t want Metroid to be niche, they want it to sell 10’s of millions of copies. They want all their games to sell well and make more money.
 
I thought we already knew this. Nintendo is super protective of their stuff, so even if it could have expanded awareness for the Metroid brand, they weren't going to let Epic parade a Nintendo IP around on rival consoles. They don't want to even suggest the idea that you could one day play any of their games on non-Nintendo hardware, mobile offerings notwithstanding.

Without knowing how much this cross-promotion has helped every other thing that's made it into Fortnite, it's hard to say whether it's a seriously disappointing move or just a move. But Samus would certainly fit the game more than a fair chunk of the existing skins, I can say that much.
 
Rather than a single skin, the one thing I could see having some kind of big impact on the sales would be a successful TV show.
 
Truno said:
Direct quote:

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Tbh, Epic should've just compromised and made Samus show up as a generic space marine bloke on non-Nintendo platforms. It'd be in line with series roots and Samus's gender ambiguity.
 
Lugia667 said:
most franchises in Fortnite are already big so it's difficult to say whether it adds to sales.

Closest would be Street Fighter I guess. Can we really know if the Chun Li skin added to Street Fighter 6 sales?
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It did not. The Chun Li costume came out in Feb 2021, SF6 came out in 2023. SF5 saw a small peak near that date 8k on steamdb, versus the regular 6.7k peaks
 
Very stupid but unsurprising decision. I'd honestly be more understanding if their issue was Samus doing Fortnite dances and shooting Peter Griffen or whatever. To have it be about her appearing on other consoles is absurd, nobody is disassociating Kratos from Playstation just because you can play as him in Fortnite on Xbox.
 
Lugia667 said:
most franchises in Fortnite are already big so it's difficult to say whether it adds to sales.

Closest would be Street Fighter I guess. Can we really know if the Chun Li skin added to Street Fighter 6 sales?
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At the very least it adds visibility to the brand, it's always a good thing. And Fortnite is generally well regarded as a game, it wouldn't be like if Nintendo made a colab with Roblox or something.

Speaking of Street Fighter, Capcom made a bunch of colabs with Fortnite (first the Chun Li/Ryu one, then Guile/Cammy, then Chris/Jill from RE, then Sakura/Blanka, and then back to RE again with Leon and Claire), so I'm sure they were happy with it.
 
Yeah, looking at this objectively, I understand Nintendo's reasoning.

Just looked at past sales threads for games that had crossovers with Fortnite, including Resident Evil 4, Alan Wake 2, Street Fighter VI, and God of War. None of them had a noticeable bump in sales in their respective series when their characters appeared in Fortnite.

It could be good for Nintendo to pursue crossovers like this to expose their IPs to newer generations who might not be aware of said IP, but I can respect them wanting to have creative control. And, as a consumer, It'd be cool to have Samus up there with the big boys in a crossover, but alas
 
Ryuji said:
What about their mobile games?
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I mean...if their investors were constantly screaming at Nintendo to put Samus in Fortnite or they will go bankrupt I guess things would be different. Nintendo put their games on mobile to shut them up
 
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Lozjam said:
Metroid being associated with a game for children and having interacting with Darth Vader, Peter Griffin, and Goku
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Nintendo.jpg
 
That would be a quite novel/weird thing to see, Nintendo easing up their IP policies once in a blue moon, and allowing one of their renowed characters in one of the most popular games of today's times. Oh, well... get back to reality, I guess.
 
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For better or worse mean Nintendo clearly sees Metroid being seen as exclusive to them as more important than Metroid getting more "awareness".

It's fine to be dissapointed by acting like Nintendo damaged Metroid's brand by not having her there is kinda silly
 
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Party Sklar said:
If that report is true, probably just an excuse used by Nintendo. Or they weren’t aware at all of what is Fortnite. There’s no way Nintendo would’ve let one of their characters fire an AK-15 (just imagine when the next school shooting happen and you have senators blaming video games, reports on TV where you see Samus firing a FAMAS) and do a TikTok dance.
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Aside from that last part being like... 10 years out of date with what happens at this point, we already know it got fairly far into negotiations, because Samus cameoed in the background of a Batman Fortnite comic.
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I mean, Kirby popped up in a Fortnite trailer for whatever reason, and Nintendo tweets out a ton of Fortnite ads. Implying they weren't aware of possibly the biggest game in the last few years when it took a significant spotlight in one of their E3 directs is a little silly.
 
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I swear this was already known for a while now. And paying attention to how Nintendo has always operated, it’s entirely obvious it would be the case.

Like it or hate it, this isn’t even about Metroid, it’s the general pattern of IP exclusivity they’ve always displayed. Maybe Metroid could have benefitted as an IP from the crossover on other consoles, just like certain games would generate more revenue if released multiplat, but that’s just not their strategy.
 
Crazy Toni said:
this reminds me of samus almost being in marvel ultimate alliance:
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Samus and Iron Bloke teaming up could've been really neat. Shame.

@big lantern ghost:

en.wikipedia.org

Iron Man (song) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Upon hearing Tony Iommi's main guitar riff at rehearsal for the first time, vocalist Ozzy Osbourne remarked that it sounded "like a big iron bloke walking about", with "Iron Bloke" quickly becoming a placeholder title as the band developed the song.
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I mean for Nintendo's part they probably saw it as no different than making Link in Soul Caliber 2 a Gamecube exclusive
 
MaitreWakou said:
This was to be expected, we pretty much guessed it back then, but this is a bit dumb imo. It's free advertising. (And I really wonder how Epic would have translated Samus' arm canon into the game lol, how would she have hold the guns ?)
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My headcanon is that she can dematerialize the Arm Cannon at will, and use her right hand normally if necessary. She just never needs to do so, because it's tactically smarter to keep it primed and ready at all times, and it doesn't impair her ability to do things like climb.
 
I can't disagree with this. If Nintendo's IPs are as great as they are is because how protective Ninty is with them. After all, Nintendo rely on their consoles, and therefore their IPs.
 
Nintendo wanting Samus to only be on Nintendo hardware is what I'd expect from Nintendo. Maybe it's not in the interview, but I'd also imagine that Nintendo didn't want imagery of Samus holding semi-realistic guns, imagery of Samus getting shot/dying from semi-realistic guns, and to not have control over who Samus would share a game space with or the animations Samus would have (I assume emotes/dances in Fortnite are universal).
 
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It’s similar to the days a decade ago when Nintendo would be stingy about lets players playing their games while monetizing their videos.

It’s understandable why they do it, but it really makes you look like a huge party pooper when you’re the only one.
 
Samus appeared on Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, all Smash games and Ridley was chosen as the first newcomer reveal for Smash Ultimate.

I think it'd be super cool to have her in Fortnite, and the fool in me thinks it can happen sometime (we had rumors about Lady Gaga being added in Fortnite and Rain on Me with Ariana Grande event happening by 2020, and it only got to happen full 4 years after when everyone thought it was a dead rumor), and while thinking just for a minute makes us think that it would make Metroid interest grow to the roof... Maybe it doesn't. Just like I don't think for a second that the Super Mario Bros Movie would be any bit less successful if they picked an unknown actor to play Mario instead of Chris Pratt.

All their collabs with third parties are exclusive to their consoles(Link in Soul Calibur, DK and Bowser in Skylanders, Star Fox in Star Link, Ganondorf in Diablo III, etc) so it comes as no surprise they'd present the same terms for Fortnite. I wish they'd go for a middle ground and have Samus and Mario only playable on Switch but visible to everyone, but Epic wouldn't agree to that either.

And as @Party Sklar said... I don't really believe Nintendo would be okay with any of their characters on a game with real life looking guns.
 
Meh. Samus could use the exposure but whatever. No skin off my back.

Considering the weird hostility some have here to those who don't 100% agree with the decision I'll also add that I don't think it matters in the end. Would most likely be more fun to have Samus in it than beneficial to boosting the IP.

oldpuck said:


That may have been what you meant, but it's not what you said ;) If someone says "Nintendo doesn't owe epic anything" and you say "nah", I think a reasonable assumption is you think Nintendo did own epic something.

Language, it's horseshit
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but the original poster was being absurd to jump to acting as if anyone said Epic was owed it. Like that's a ridiculous reaction.
 
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Truno said:
Direct quote:

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FWIW, Microsoft/Mojang was OK with the Mario content in Minecraft only appearing on Nintendo hardware, even though the game is cross-platform. The Nintendo content in Rocket League (which is also cross-platform) was also OK with Psyonix, but that deal was made before Epic bought the IP.
 
Tab said:
To have it be about her appearing on other consoles is absurd, nobody is disassociating Kratos from Playstation just because you can play as him in Fortnite on Xbox.
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There are full-on PlayStation and Xbox games published on Switch. Those ships have sailed.
 
Marce-chan said:
And as @Party Sklar said... I don't really believe Nintendo would be okay with any of their characters on a game with real life looking guns.
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This argument against Metroid specifically seems a little silly considering the fact all Nintendo characters appear in a game where a couple of characters have guns (Smash), and just the fact it feels like one of the only Nintendo series where they wouldn't mind realistic guns in. I know everyone likes to forget Other M, but realistic guns that shoot bullets show up in that game!

Remember him?
Anthony_Higgs_om_Artwork.png
 
Hocot8 said:
Meh. Samus could use the exposure but whatever. No skin off my back.

Considering the weird hostility some have here to those who don't 100% agree with the decision I'll also add that I don't think it matters in the end. Would most likely be more fun to have Samus in it than beneficial to boosting the IP.


but the original poster was being absurd to jump to acting as if anyone said Epic was owed it. Like that's a ridiculous reaction.
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There does seem to be a sentiment that epic is owed every ip and that everything should be in fortnite.
 
I truly doubt fortnite would have much crossover with Metroid.

Fortnite is a online multi-player live service game. Big social element.

Metroid (outside of a couple spinoffs) is a game that you play alone, exploring a sci-fi environment all alone. Single player. Most of the games are 2d sidescrollers.

These things are so different I question how much crossover would really exist.
 
jariw said:
FWIW, Microsoft/Mojang was OK with the Mario content in Minecraft only appearing on Nintendo hardware, even though the game is cross-platform. The Nintendo content in Rocket League (which is also cross-platform) was also OK with Psyonix, but that deal was made before Epic bought the IP.
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the metroid car appears as a generic Rocket League car on other systems

Epic should have done a "legally distinct space bounty hunter" for other systems like Rocket League
 
Chie said:
There does seem to be a sentiment that epic is owed every ip and that everything should be in fortnite.
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by who though? Epic or fans that we shouldn't even be concerned about because they are most definitely not here haha.
 
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Chie said:
I truly doubt fortnite would have much crossover with Metroid.

Fortnite is a online multi-player live service game. Big social element.

Metroid (outside of a couple spinoffs) is a game that you play alone, exploring a sci-fi environment all alone. Single player. Most of the games are 2d sidescrollers.

These things are so different I question how much crossover would really exist.
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I don't think Epic really cares about crossing over with stuff that has a similar tone to Fortnite, considering the crossovers in that game range from Resident Evil to Family Guy.
Their reasoning for crossing over with other stuff is "maybe get the fans of those series into Fortnite" more than "our existing fans will definitely already be fans"
 
OK, but what a weird trio would be Samus, Kratos and Master Chief, right?

Like, if you have to be proportional of what God of War and Halo are to Sony and Microsoft respectively, you have to go Super Mario... not Metroid? Even Link would be a more fitting choice, even if not that quite. Nevermind the themes, because Fortnite has no consistency whatsoever anyway.

And of course, if Samus was off-limits, Mario was obviously a no-go. Not even if they had everybody's favorite Chris Pratt dressed as Mario there instead a couple of years down the road.
 
JazzyFuture said:
I don't think Epic really cares about crossing over with stuff that has a similar tone to Fortnite, considering the crossovers in that game range from Resident Evil to Family Guy.
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I mean epic just wants everything and anything they can get. Whether it makes sense or is a good fit doesn't matter. We know they were interested to begin with.

I'm referring to the face that this wouldn't help metroid as a series. I don't think it would make a meaningful number of new fans or provide any significant exposure for the series. Maybe if fortnite collaborations were a new thing and it was novel. But they've been including numerous skins from multiple franchises, and they've been doing it for years now. It's not new or novel, it's expected.

Also I'm not trying to be mean, but they did release that master chief skin years back, and it hasn't really helped Halos fortunes. It even has a TV show but the Halo games don't seem to be benefitting from it much. Halo used to be the premier fps series with very popular online and it just seems to be trending downwards, and yet being in fortnite doesn't seem to he moving the needle. God of War was already popular before and after that skin since it got rebooted and I don't think the fortnite skin helped or hindered it.

What I'm trying to say is that fortnite skins of known ip don't matter. It's like the sun rising and setting, just a normal thing that happens.
 
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CyberWolfBia said:
OK, but what a weird trio would be Samus, Kratos and Master Chief, right?

Like, if you have to be proportional of what God of War and Halo are to Sony and Microsoft respectively, you have to go Super Mario... not Metroid? Even Link would be a more fitting choice, even if not that quite. Nevermind the themes, because Fortnite has no consistency whatsoever anyway.

And of course, if Samus was off-limits, Mario was obviously a no-go. Not even if they had everybody's favorite Chris Pratt dressed as Mario there instead a couple of years down the road.
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Samus was probably went with as the first ask because A) she'd fit proportionally and have obvious skin options and B) is probably the most famous Nintendo character Nintendo would most likely be ok with holding guns. Your other options off the top of my head would be the Star Fox gang which usually use laser weapons, and F-Zero characters, which would fit proportionally but also is WAY less significant than even Metroid.
And from the sounds of things, Nintendo was fine with it, it was just that Epic didn't want to deal with the exclusivity that Rocket League and Minecraft did. Rocket League also went with Mario and Metroid, so I think it's fair to say that a lot of game devs just probably really like Metroid.

Also the trio of Kratos/Chief/Samus gives me memories of PS2/Xbox/Gamecube magazines so maybe they were going for that.
 
Yeah, Nintendo’s way of being protective with their IPs feels a bit dated. Like it’s stuck in the 80s / 90s mentality. Things have changed and being this overly protective isn’t really helping their brand or anything. Would’ve been dope to see Samus and other Nintendo characters in Fortnite. Would’ve probably paid for the skin or season pass to get them. That being said, I also don’t think it would’ve moved the needle all that much on sales for Metroid. I feel like folk overrate the exposure these sorts of crossover IPs genuinely offer

Aurc said:
Nintendo.jpg
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That is horrifically cursed
 
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