Slowly but surely, Fortnite has proven itself to be the hub of all things pop-culture in the gaming landscape. While other games like Fall Guys and Mortal Kombat will occasionally see crossovers with a variety of different movie and TV IPs, none are as consistent or as high-profile as Fortnite. Beginning with an Avengers Infinity War crossover back in 2018, Fortnite's collaborations have only grown more common, with the last year or so really ramping things up.
In 2023 alone, Fortnite has crossed over with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Dragon Ball, Star Wars, Attack on Titan, My Hero Academia, and Creed, 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 the Fortnite brand, and the latest Transformers: Rise of the Beasts crossover might finally be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
Fortnite's Transformers Crossover Has a Major Flaw
The vast majority of Fortnite's crossovers are timed extremely well. Though a few Fortnite crossovers 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 recent Across the Spider-Verse collaboration 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 old Fortnite crossovers 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 like Attack on Titan and My Hero Academia have added unique limited-time mythic weapons to the game, along with a handful of unique quests to go alongside them. The recent Star Wars collaboration even added an entire mini Battle Pass to the game, with a slew of exclusive rewards. All of this is to say that Fortnite'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 added Transformers' Optimus Prime to the game. Available as part of Fortnite's latest Battle Pass, Optimus Prime's skin is excellent, managing to somehow balance the cartoon-y art style of Fortnite with the more realistic-looking art style of the live-action Transformers movies. This skin is also accompanied by a handful of unique missions, most of which revolve around Fortnite's new jungle area. But while Optimus Prime's actual integration into Fortnite is good, it's his franchise that could let him down in the long run.
Fortnite's Transformers crossover is technically perfectly timed, coinciding with the release of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. The only problem is that Transformers: Rise of the Beasts isn't performing all too well critically. A messy continuation of Bumblebee and successor to the Michael Bay movies, the general consensus of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is that it's the worst of both worlds.
While it may not be as bad as Michael Bay's last few Transformers entries, it isn't the franchise savior that fans were hoping for either, and Fortnite might have tripped itself up by hanging an entire Season on it. Currently, Fortnite's Transformers-centric Season is set to last until August 25, and by that time many will have completely forgotten about Rise of the Beasts, making Optimus Prime's spot at the top of the Battle Pass a potentially disappointing final reward.
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