As much as I don’t confess to being a fan of Fortnite, I can’t deny that their marketing strategy for the last few years has been absolutely on point. They’ve kept their fingers firmly on the pulse of trends and pop culture, and launched their crossover events at exactly the right times.
And not just sticking with other video game or film franchises, they’ve had music artists Travis Scott and Marshmello in the game and even promoted Nike’s line of Jordan apparel. Among that, there have been more classic intertwinings like big events with the release of Marvel’s crescendo films Infinity War and Endgame, and a Pandora themed map to celebrate Borderlands 3.
I’m sure more awesome collaborations are to come, and we’re going to speculate on what cool events we might see in the future.
DOOM
Fortnite has already dabbled with a major FPS franchise back when it teamed up with Microsoft key title Halo and its iconic Master Chief, so it wouldn’t be a ridiculous leap to rub shoulders with the grandfather of First Person Shooters, namely DOOM.
Obviously, you’d want to get the Doomslayer himself in on the action, so like they did with Thanos in Fortnite x Infinity War, there could be the Slayer’s helmet that spawns on the battlefield, and whoever picks it up gets a terrifying upgrade and gets to take
on the mantle of the Doomslayer. And of course, it wouldn’t be an event with a skin or two, so I’d imagine they’d throw a Doomguy or Imp skin in there for good measure.
As the ‘Slayer you’d be able to move at double the normal movement speed and wield akimbo double-barrel shotguns to rip and tear through your enemies. You could also have NPC enemies from the DOOM series like Lost Souls and Cacodemons spawn in at random intervals that people would have to defend themselves against.
Top that off with a space and/or inferno themed aesthetic, borrow a few of DOOM’s kick ass tunes and I might just have to download this Battle Royale.
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Crash Bandicoot
PlayStation poster boys Crash and Spyro have made a resounding return to relevance in the last couple of years with their respective trilogy remasters each being a triumph. Developers Toys For Bob might want to give some extra marketing push to the new Spyro game when it inevitably comes out, but I think Crash Bandicoot has tools and mechanics that would be better suited to a Battle Royale set up.
While you could go the route of adding in the characters like other entries I’ve used on this list, I think a better idea would be to have influenced mechanics rather than just throwing the characters in there. That being said, I don’t think anyone would say no to a Crash, Coco, and Cortex skin being added in.
You could have all crates stylized to look like the crates from the Crash series, and you could add in the Wumpa Fruit Bazooka from Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped to add to yet another goofy weapon in Fortnite’s locker.
I’d also add in special Aku-Aku masks that function as extra armor, and if you collect three you’d get some kind of upgraded health bar.
Resident Evil
Resident Evil has been a consistently popular franchise for decades now, and with Resident Evil VIII: Village on the horizon, Capcom’s survival horror may team up with one of the most popular games on the planet to highlight its release.
There’s a couple of different directions the devs could take this partnership. First off, being that Fortnite is aimed at a younger demographic than Resident Evil, the graphic nature and gore would have to be toned down a fair bit, but I think you could still put AI controlled zombies wondering the map to give players a real fright.
Alternatively, you could add another portion to the map that is from the series, something like the Spencer Mansion or even adding in a scaled down version of Raccoon City. To change it up even further, have the Spencer Estate be its own mini map with a smaller number of players in it like Call of Duty Warzone has been doing with its Rebirth Island map.
Whatever happens, just don’t make us play as Sheva.
Gears of War
Now I’m biased, because I love Gears of War. I haven’t got to grips with Gears 5 as much as I’d like and Gears of War Judgment wasn’t quite what everyone expected, but it’s built a sterling reputation from its robust mechanics that make it a challenging and rewarding third-person shooter to play in a competitive sense.
Series developer The Coalition went in hard on the skin economy in the games themselves, making many, many variants of COG and Locust/Swarm characters alike, so this would translate well to Fortnite’s set up. You probably wouldn’t include much of the enemy options, but having skins for Marcus, Dom, Cole, Baird, Carmine, Bernie, and Anya would please fans of both games.
Then you have Gears’ roster of unique weapons like the Scorcher, a deadly flamethrower, the Digger which fires a small explosive creature, and the Torque Bow, perfect for the archers and wannabe William Tells out there. Even without the skins, having promotional weapons of the GoW series would be a natural and easy fit.
Fallout
If you’re willing to forgive Bethesda for its very entertaining but equally buggy games, you may relish the idea of seeing Fortnite splice its wacky DNA with the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout (just not Fallout 76).
Even with that not so sly jab, Fallout has a lot of material that could be incorporated quite well into the world of Fortnite. Skins for the Brotherhood of Steel and New Vegas NCR Rangers would be a must, and you could even throw a feral ghoul as it somewhat suits the BR’s remit. Power Armor could also be found on the map the same way it is in Fallout 4, if the player has found enough energy cells within the map to power it, of course.
You could don an NCR Ranger get-up too, bestowing you their undeniably cool outfit, equipped with a .44 Revolver and Anti-Material Rifle. And it would certainly be a missed opportunity to not include some of Fallout’s most memorable weapons like the Fat Man, Gauss Rifle, and the Super Sledge.
Another cool feature (that might be a little off-the-wall) would be to have AI companions you could recruit to follow you around. Imagine roaming around Dirty Docks with Yes Man or Fawkes as your back up.
Tomb Raider
The Tomb Raider series has allowed the playable Lara Croft to become one of video game’s leading ladies. She’s intelligent, resourceful, tough-as-nails, and is handy with a firearm or two, making her a perfect choice to be placed into the game as a special character.
In my head, playing as the treasure chasing archeologist would be its own mode where you sport her trademark double pistols, have acrobatic and gymnastic moves, and a grappling hook that you use to scale walls and structures. The game would function with a “Wanted” rule set, where defeating the player who is currently Lara means you then become her yourself. The map would also be a fraction of the regular map size, possibly even set within the Croft Manor.
In the most recent instalments, Tomb Raider has taken a more ground and vulnerable Lara and rebooted her in a way to shine a light on her origins, but I think using the classic PlayStation One version of Ms Croft in her green tank top and shorts would be just a better all-round approach.
Assassin’s Creed
A few years back, Assassin’s Creed was just another Ubisoft series. It’s annual releases had stagnated the brand, and AC Unity was, for lack of a better term, a total mess. Recently, it’s seen a reprieve with more hope and optimism around the series, and with Valhalla’s release, we could see vikings pop up in Epic’s popular shooter.
Like the Infinity Gauntlet, players could collect an item on the map, say an assassin’s hood or the iconic hidden blade, and become one of three characters from the series. You would then either become the first assassin we all played as, one Altair, the fan favourite Ezio, or the newest hero Eivior.
All of the characters would have the hidden blade ability to instantly take people out within range, and each would have their own unique weapon or power, like Eivior being able to use their deadly axe skills. I also think a nice touch would be if you could send AI assassin’s after people in your vicinity and have them fight against a small wave of CPU bots.
Elder Scrolls
You can’t talk about Bethesda’s loved yet hated series set in the wasteland of future America without mentioning its other series that has bugs up to its eyeballs, that of course being the fantasy adventure, Elder Scrolls.
I personally prefer the world of Fallout, but I know there’s just as strong a fanbase (if not more so) for the Elder Scrolls series, with Skyrim being infinitely popular but series purists preferring classic entries like Morrowind and Daggerfall. Should the developers/publishers come to release Elder Scrolls VI, this could be a crossover waiting to happen.
While not wanting to even think about theory crafting anything from games that don’t exist yet, one player could find a special object to take on the mantle of the Dragonborn, allowing them the powers of magic and the mighty Fus Ro Dah.
With regards to new weapons, you could include several if not all of the Daedric Artifacts like the Mace of Molag Bal, even more passive items like the Ring of Hircine. You could also include different forms of protection like the Nightingale and Shrouded Armor.
Sonic the Hedgehog
The Sonic the Hedgehog series has had a bumpy history to say the least. What started as one of the biggest contenders to Nintendo’s Mario, SEGA’s unusual creative choices for the character lead to a string of average-at-best games for a long time. Thankfully Sonic Mania gave people hope, and the live-action movie did so well it spawned a sequel that’ll land on Netflix in the future. Perhaps around the time of the movie’s release, we’ll see a Sonic event kick off.
The standard map would exist but the rings that Sonic and friends so dearly love to collect would be littered everywhere. These rings would be collected by players that fill up a meter that allows you to move around at supersonic speeds like the Blue Blur himself, but would deplete as it was used. Collect 100 rings and you would get 60 seconds of unlimited speed to ping around the environment with.
Hidden on the map would also be three different Chaos Emeralds, one blue, one red, one yellow. Each of these would represent Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails respectively. As Sonic you would get insane speed, Knuckles you could glide about the map, and Tails would be in one of his many vehicular machines.
Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid has built up a real prestige throughout the years, and rightly so. Hideo Kojima and his team made the games that they wanted to make and made heavily cinematic but interactive media. MGS has numerous elements that could work well within the world of Fortnite.
Some of the most recognised faces from the series could step in, the ones that spring to mind straight away are the man himself Solid Snake, his arrogant twin brother Liquid Snake, and the ninja cyborg Raiden.
Each character could have a unique trait and weapon, like Solid Snake never appearing on the map or Raiden being able to use his insane speed but he’s limited to his katana. Or like when the game had Titans, sorry, Mechs for a brief period, you could have Metal Gear robots like REX and RAY that people would have to defeat but then get to control them afterwards.