Is Fortnite going overboard with collaborations?

For a long time, Fortnite players could only play as skins exclusive to the game.

Aside from the Reaper (which wasn't John Wick), most skins in the beginning of Fortnite were originally created by the Epic Games team. Now, the collaborations seem endless, and players don't like this.

Many players preferred the old Fortnite skin catalog that was full of Dark Voyagers and Brite Bombers instead of now being full of Iron Man and Superman. Has Fortnite gone overboard with the collaborations now?

Fortnite collaborations

The list of Fortnite skins that come in collaboration with something else is extremely long.

• Marvel
• Ant-Man
• Black Panther
• Black Widow
• Blade
• Cable
• Captain America
• Captain Marvel
• Deadpool
• Cuddlepool
• Ravenpool
• Daredevil
• Doctor Doom
• Domino
• Ghost Rider
• Groot
• Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk)
• Loki (Crew Pack)
• Mystique
• Psylocke
• Silver Surfer
• Star Lord
• Storm
• Taskmaster
• Thor
• Tony Stark (Iron Man)
• Venom
• Wolverine
• DC Comics
• Aquaman
• Batman
• Beast Boy
• Black Manta
• Bloodsport

Bloodsport. Image via Epic Games

• Catwoman
• Green Arrow
• Harley Quinn
• Poison Ivy
• Raven
• Superman
• The Flash
• The Joker
• Star Wars
• Finn
• Stormtrooper
• Kylo Ren
• Mandalorian
• Rey
• Sith Trooper
• Zorii Bliss
• Icon Series (Real People)
• Ariana Grande
• Travis Scott
• Marshmello
• Lachlan
• Bugha
• Harry Kane
• LeBron James
• LazarBeam
• Loserfruit
• Major Lazer
• Marco Reus
• Neymar, Jr.
• Ninja
• TheGrefg

There is an insane amount of collaborative skins in Fortnite (that list isn't comprehensive), and it begs the question. Is it too much? One Redditor might think so. FriendlyGuy02 has taken notice of the rapidly increasing number of collaborations in the world of Fortnite.

The fact of the matter is that a lot of what Fortnite releases now is in collaboration with something. They've even added a Lamborghini to the in-game vehicles. It's frustrating to many players. Some don't feel like this is true Fortnite at all. Chapter 2 has definitely gone heavy on the collaborations, to say the least.

It sucks that this is so true. It feels like @FortniteGame lost its identity with Chapter 2. We've been getting non-stop ads, collaborations, and even getting these things thrown into the Battle Pass. It feels wrong, man. Chapter 2 feels wrong.Let's just hope things change. https://t.co/U40wrmdAqb

— Ryandude5678 (@Ryandude5678) August 22, 2020

This isn't likely to stop Fortnite, though. Enough players love the collaborations, so they earn money for Epic Games. The popularity of each collaboration drives its sales up, and that's the bottom line for Fortnite and Epic Games.

For a free-to-play game, in-game purchases are essential. If collaborative skins are selling like hotcakes (and they are), then that's going to be the focus for them instead of creating original characters.

DC Comics x Fortnite. Image via Forbes

It seems that this is frustrating to a majority of the player base. Most Fortnite players want to play Fortnite for Fortnite. If they wanted to play as an Avenger, they'd play Marvel's Avengers. If they wanted to play as Batman, there are ample Batman games available.

Fortnite is its own game, and merging it with others doesn't really serve the player base. This Reddit post from 10 months ago sums it up, and the amount of collaborations has grown exponentially since then.

The last statement sums it up pretty well. "Adding more collaborations overruns the entire game and makes it boring." With all the superhero skins added, Fortnite is becoming more and more of a superhero game, which is something it was never meant to be. It's not likely to stop, but it is getting dangerously close to going overboard and losing a large chunk of the player base.