Slowly but surely,Fortnitehas proven itself to be the hub of all things pop-culture in the gaming landscape. While other games likeFall GuysandMortal Kombatwill occasionally see crossovers with a variety of different movie and TV IPs, none are as consistent or as high-profile asFortnite. Beginning with anAvengers Infinity Warcrossover back in 2018,Fortnite’s collaborations have only grown more common, with the last year or so really ramping things up.
In 2023 alone,Fortnitehas crossed over withSpider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,Dragon Ball,Star Wars,Attack on Titan,My Hero Academia, andCreed, and that’s not even mentioning crossovers with fellow video game properties. But while these crossovers have all been pretty great across the board, each one is a gamble for theFortnitebrand, and the latestTransformers: Rise of the Beastscrossover might finally be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
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Fortnite’s Transformers Crossover Has a Major Flaw
The vast majority ofFortnite’s crossoversare timed extremely well. Though a fewFortnitecrossovers have appeared seemingly out of nowhere, most have a clear reasoning behind them, usually coinciding with a major movie, game, or show release. For instance, the recentAcross the Spider-Versecollaboration was timed perfectly, with skins and quests appearing in the game about a week before the movie was released, and staying around for a little while after, capitalizing on the hype from both ends.
Fortnite’s most recent crossovers have also gone above and beyond. Where oldFortnitecrossovers used to just add a handful of skins based on the movie or TV show, more recent ones have incorporated them into the actual gameplay. Crossovers likeAttack on TitanandMy Hero Academiahave added unique limited-time mythic weapons to the game, along with a handful of unique quests to go alongside them. The recentStar Warscollaboration even added an entire mini Battle Pass to the game, with a slew of exclusive rewards. All of this is to say thatFortnite’s crossovers have only continued to get better over the last few years, and continued to make sense, though that might have just come to an end.
Fortnite’s latest Season has just addedTransformers' Optimus Prime to the game. Available as part ofFortnite’s latest Battle Pass, Optimus Prime’s skin is excellent, managing to somehow balance the cartoon-y art style ofFortnitewith the more realistic-looking art style of the live-actionTransformersmovies. This skin is also accompanied by a handful of unique missions, most of which revolve aroundFortnite’s new jungle area. But while Optimus Prime’s actual integration intoFortniteis good, it’s his franchise that could let him down in the long run.
Fortnite’sTransformerscrossover is technically perfectly timed, coinciding with the release ofTransformers: Rise of the Beasts. The only problem is thatTransformers: Rise of the Beastsisn’t performing all too well critically. A messy continuation ofBumblebeeand successor to the Michael Bay movies, the general consensus ofTransformers: Rise of the Beastsis that it’s the worst of both worlds.
While it may not be as bad asMichael Bay’s last fewTransformersentries, it isn’t the franchise savior that fans were hoping for either, andFortnitemight have tripped itself up by hanging an entire Season on it. Currently,Fortnite’sTransformers-centric Season is set to last until August 25, and by that time many will have completely forgotten aboutRise of the Beasts, making Optimus Prime’s spot at the top of the Battle Pass a potentially disappointing final reward.
Fortniteis available for Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
