Nintendo's Fortnite Tease Has Everyone Guessing What's Coming

A mysterious August 20 post has sparked fresh speculation that Nintendo could finally send one of its characters into Fortnite.

Nintendo and Fortnite have kept their distance for a long time, but that may be changing. A surprisingly cryptic post from Nintendo of America has fans wondering whether the company is finally preparing to bring one of its famous characters into Epic Games' giant battle royale.

According to the sources, Nintendo of America posted a message saying, "Looks like Fortnite sent us something for August 20. Wonder what it does." Another intriguing line accompanied the post: "Break the rules, change the game. Born to play."
That was all it took.

The post quickly picked up millions of views and tens of thousands of likes, and fans immediately tried to figure out what Nintendo might be teasing. And considering how rarely Nintendo gives fans something this mysterious, the reaction is understandable. Fortnite has become one of the biggest crossover platforms in gaming.

Characters from games, movies, music and pop culture have all found their way into the game. Sony, Microsoft, Sega and Capcom have already joined the party in one form or another. Nintendo, however, has stayed firmly on the sidelines. That is what makes this particular tease so interesting.

Nintendo has always been extremely protective of its characters and brands.

A major obstacle between Nintendo and Epic has reportedly been Fortnite's cross-platform nature. Epic's approach generally means that a character or cosmetic added to Fortnite should be visible across the different platforms where the game is available. For Nintendo, that creates a pretty obvious problem.

Would the company really be comfortable with Mario or Samus appearing on PlayStation or Xbox? Probably not without some serious conditions. There is, however, a possible middle ground. Nintendo has previously allowed certain content to work differently on its own hardware, as in Rocket League. That raises the possibility that a Fortnite collaboration could follow a similar approach.

Imagine Samus appearing on the Nintendo version of Fortnite while players on other platforms see a more generic version of the character. It sounds strange, but Nintendo has never been afraid to do things its own way. And if Nintendo really is considering a Fortnite crossover, Samus could be a much more interesting choice than Mario. Mario doesn't exactly need help getting noticed. Neither do Zelda or Pokémon. Metroid and Star Fox are different stories.

A Fortnite appearance could put Samus in front of millions of players who might never have considered trying a Metroid game. That could be especially useful for Metroid, which could certainly use another shot of attention following the underwhelming commercial performance of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.

Fortnite's audience is also enormous and includes plenty of younger players.

That makes the platform an interesting way for Nintendo to introduce some of its older franchises to an entirely new generation. Still, one important detail is missing: Nintendo hasn't confirmed a Fortnite character crossover. The August 20 message could be nothing more than a promotional tease for Fortnite content on Nintendo platforms.

Nintendo also has plenty of reasons to keep promoting Fortnite, considering the money generated through in-game purchases and battle passes. But the wording of this tease is certainly unusual enough to keep the speculation alive. So, could Nintendo finally be willing to bend its rules and let Samus, Fox or even Mario step into Fortnite, or is August 20 hiding a completely different surprise?