Fortnite’s Locked Away Character Collabs Ruin Its Metaverse Mantra

Fortnite is collecting movie, TV, video game IPs and celebrities like they’re a hundred Infinity Stones as it marches toward its Ready Player One-like version of the metaverse. But as players have recently pointed out, that dream is littered with asterisks, as some of Fortnite’s highest profile collaborations are now impossible to acquire, including some huge icons.

This happens when characters are included in past battle passes, as bonus skins, in Crew Packs or just in limited time deals. And then they simply do not come back, and players have no way to purchase or earn them ever again.

These are major characters. The thread that’s being passed around, compiled by Vishanti, lays out just how many big characters Fortnite now has locked in a vault:

Superheroes – Superman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Raven, Deadpool, Carnage, Dr. Strange, Dr. Doom, Groot, Rocket Racoon, She-Hulk, Loki, Mystique, Prowler, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man, Storm, Thor, Iron Man, Wolverine

Movies – Darth Vader, Optimus Prime, Predator, Indiana Jones

TV – Eren Yager, Rick, Peter Griffin, The Mandalorian, Ahsoka

Video Games – Doomslayer, Geralt, Lara Croft, Solid Snake

Celebrities – Khaby Lame, Neymar Jr.

I don’t think you can have a fully realized metaverse when you refuse to release someone like Darth Vader because he was a battle pass exclusive for a few months back in 2022. The same goes for that giant list of Marvel and DC superheroes which have led battle passes for years now or appeared as Crew skins. It’s practically half the Avengers, X-Men and the JLA in there.

Fortnite has offered no solution for this. The idea, of course, is that when you see a skin you want in a battle pass, they want you to have this notion that “if I don’t get it now, it’s gone!” but in practice, it ruins the idea of a metaverse where players can be whoever they want. And if Fortnite has gone to all the trouble to grab these IPs, then they should open them up for purchase. I mean, that would still earn money on its own. A lot of money, depending on the skin.

I think the solution here is some sort of statute of limitations on these skins. Maybe after two years or so, these skins become eligible to hop into the shop instead of being locked behind limited promotions or battle passes. That seems like the best of both worlds, and it would not impede a world where Fortnite lets anyone be Superman, Spider-Man, Wolverine or Darth Vader. If they have twenty bucks, at least.

Follow me on Twitter, Threads, YouTube, and Instagram. Subscribe to my free weekly content round-up newsletter, God Rolls.

Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.