Fortnitestarted collaborating with other IPs in its Search for Survivors campaign and has since become an endless treasure trove of partnerships with all manner of media. With over 230 million active monthly players, it’s no wonder everybody wants a piece of the pie.
Collabs have covered everything from banners and cosmetics to in-game events, maps, and exclusives. At this point, seeing a new reference in Fortnite is expected but you never know what will crop up. After all, there have been some truly unexpected releases throughout the years. Check out some of the most interesting Fortnite collabs that you couldn’t have anticipated.
10Marshmello
So Fortnite Can Get Louder
Live events have become par for the course in Fortnite, but this was a fire that started all the way back in 2019. In a year that saw Marshmello becoming one of the highest-paid DJs in the world, he would take the stage in Pleasant Park for the very first live virtual concert in the game.
No one really knew what to expect simply because it hadn’t been done before. The collective experience turned out great thanks to the energetic set and the novelty of the whole thing. Thanks to that, there have also been multiple Marshmello cosmetics since.
9Tenet
There Are No Friends At Dusk
You can almost imagine the way this was pitched. “We’re all used tovideo games in movies. But picture this - movies in video games!” Many people didn’t immediately understand why Tenet was holding a live event in Fortnite, but it checks out considering how many people didn’t understand Tenet either.
The event started with an interview with the movie’s star, John David Washington, and concluded with an exclusive trailer reveal. It was a bizarre partnership, especially considering how director Christopher Nolan is famously Luddite-adjacent in practice.
8Guggimon
Is It Rabbit Hunting Season?
Not to discredit Superplastic, but Guggimon as a character is undeniably niche. Most people didn’t expect this arguably because they didn’t even understand its existence as a collab. If you ask players how they feel about this partnership, there’s a good chance you’ll mostly get surprised responses.
The peculiar bunny is a strange entry in an already funky setting. It’s safe to say you either thought this was an original creation by Fortnite’s team or you knew exactly who he was and found it weird anyway.
7Mike Lowrey
Put The Hammer Down And Get Me A Pack Of Bubbalicious
Will Smith is no stranger to internet memehood, but it’s hard to imagine anyone expected his Fortnite debut to manifest in the form of Mike Lowrey. Still, this may as well be the outfit you don if you ever want tofeel like a wisecracking detective while playing.
The outfit was introduced in 2021, a whole year after Bad Boys For Life came out in theaters. The timing of the release only serves to make the whole thing feel more dissonant, but hey, bad boys are meant to be ready for anything anywhere.
6Martin Luther King Jr.
If You Could Turn Back Time
While it’s always great to honor the impact of Martin Luther King Jr., who really thought Fortnite was going to be the place to do it? The intentions were commendable since toxic and racially insensitive behavior tends to permeate the chat heavily in this game. That said, the idea of screening the “I Have A Dream” speech in a battle royale andexpecting it to be a serious moment is a real miscalculation.
The chances that this could be a real idea that would come to fruition once seemed slim. Alas, the “March Through Time” event ultimately suffered from the misstep, with its significant message overtaken by the usual debauchery that you might expect in such lobbies.
5Balenciaga
Fashion Can Fix Your Aim
It may be presumptuous to say that there is hardly any overlap between Balenciaga fans and Fortnite players, but this collection is truly one of the sneaks you couldn’t foresee. This marked the game’s first partnership with a luxury clothing brand. Read that again, and you’ll see just how unlikely this was before it became reality.
Perhaps the suits over at Balenciaga felt that the Fortnite demo could be persuaded to spend on their hoodies instead of in-game cosmetics. The Balenciaga Fit Set has some impressive detail in it, really pushing that “buy our stuff in real life” experience they set out to deliver. Surely you deserve to get the drip for that Victory Royale.
4Lady Gaga
Don’t Camp My Vault, Alejandro
It seems not so long ago that Lady Gaga said “What’s fortnight” on Twitter. A day after that tweet, she tagged Ninja asking who he was. Fast forward to 2024, and Mother Monster calls back to this tweet to announce her arrival for Festival Season 2: Unlock Your Talent.
Who would think that this collab would happen with an artist who literally couldn’t even spell the game just a few years ago? It’s icon behavior, so Lady Gaga is naturally the one to do it.
3Segway
Still Not The Wildest Thing To Happen On A Segway
Take a moment to ponder on the fact that you live in the timeline where Segway collaborated with Fortnite. The Tour emote is Rare, costing seven precious Battle Stars.
If you honestly saw this collaboration coming, then you may want to consider a future in soothsaying. To say the partnership was odd and came out of nowhere is an understatement, but it’s still a fun emote at the end of the day. Ride on, Segway Tour.
2Punk’d
Maybe It Was A Prank
Punk’d was a popular prank show that eventually got rebooted into a slightly less popular prank show. To promote its release on Quibi, the live event had it streamed at Risky Reels. It was a strange way to essentially launch the show and, despite its fun concept, had trouble in its execution.
Hourly streams came into play, but plenty of players noted that these just ended up getting covered with builds and projectiles. Interestingly, this still doesn’t take the cake asthe worst collab in Fortnite history.
1Among Us
Imagine That Emergency Meeting
Talk about an ambitious crossover. Despite being two of the biggest multiplayer games, what makes their partnership most unexpected is the fact that it followed some major drama between the devs. This all started when Fortnite launched their Impostors game mode, which you can quickly surmise played and sounded extremely similar toAmong Us.
Many subtweets and patch notes later, InnerSloth and Epic finally released their collaboration by way of the Crewmate Back Bling and Distraction Dance emote. At least the social deduction worked out for the best this time around.
