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Fortnite in 2021 is very different from Fortnite in 2017, and that could be because it has fused with many other brands.
Fortnite used to have a story separate from collaborations. Collaborations used to be a fun way for players to see their favorite characters in Fortnite. The first big collaboration was when Thanos was brought into Chapter 1 Season 4. Thanos was a nod to the Avengers movies and Fortnite was given a Limited Time Mode where players needed to find the six infinity stones.
Want to know what items might feature in the shop tomorrow? Check out our predictions for tomorrow's Fortnite Item Shop
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The rest of Chapter 1 had many little additions that did not affect the overall story. Marshmello held a festival and characters like Ant-Man, Batman, and John Wick came into the game as skins. Epic Games was just making players happy by adding pop culture references to its game.
Chapter 1 Season X was the last time Fortnite's story was unaffected by its collaborations. The importance of collaborations grew in Fortnite Chapter 2. Overall, the story was still about Midas, his daughter Jules, and Agent Jonesy's missions.
Slowly, as seasons progressed, Fortnite added more pop culture references to its roster, like Aquaman. The biggest collaboration of Chapter 2 came in Season 4.
In Season 4, Marvel was brought into Fortnite and completely changed the game. The map, skins, and majority of the items, were all Marvel related. The story of Season 4 revolved around Marvel characters and their fight against Galactus. Fortnite's original story was put on pause for an entire season.
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Season 5 brought Star Wars and hunters from movies and video games. Hunters became part of Jonesy's story, which means that collabs are now a key part of Fortnite's original story. Even the Fox Clan skin seemed more like an advertisement to the Crew than anything else.
This whole collaboration business model has made many players unhappy, but it arguably brought more profit into the game itself. Epic Games does not seem to mind, because the company has grown bigger with each passing season.
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Fortnite may be too commercial to change
At this point, Epic Games is worth at least 17 billion dollars. They've grown so large that they needed to buy an entire shopping mall to house their new headquarters. This growth has a lot to do with Fortnite's popularity.
Epic Games rakes in a lot of money from collaborations. Each collab gives players a new reason to buy battle passes, skins, and crew subscriptions. Companies don't like showing less profit, and cutting back on collaborations will pull their profit back. This shows that Fortnite won't be changing its new business model anytime soon.
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