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No brand is safe from Fortnite

No brand is safe from Fortnite

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The T-800 Terminator and Sarah Connor have joined the cast of the game

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The Predator in Fortnite.
The Predator in Fortnite.
Image: Epic Games

In Fortnite, you can now play as the T-800 Terminator and do the Renegade dance. Later this week, you’ll be able to make the Predator do Pelé’s victory celebration while wielding TheGrefg’s gamepad pickaxe. On Thursday, a Faze Clan streamer played Fortnite with a Manchester City star while wearing Manchester City skins. The battle royale hit has long been known as a cross-promotional juggernaut, but developer Epic Games has recently taken things to a whole new level.

Just this season, which kicked off on December 2nd, Epic has added:

Crossovers like these are by no means a new thing for Fortnite. The game’s last season was a multimonth Marvel mashup, there have been multiple Star Wars-themed cosmetics, other real-world streamers added to the game include Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and Kathleen “Loserfruit” Belsten, and there have even been concerts (and accompanying in-game cosmetics) featuring huge artists like Travis Scott and Marshmello.

To me, the crossovers are part of the continuing appeal of Fortnite — where else can I play as Kratos and face off against Iron Man? — and each new addition helps Epic build the ultimate virtual world. But the crossovers also give Epic opportunities to bring in more cash, which might help make up for the game’s absence on iOS. The battle royale hit is free to play, so each new brand appearance is a chance for Epic to get people to pay for items from the in-game store or sell one of its seasonal battle passes.

Don’t expect the crossovers to stop anytime soon. The Predator just joined Fortnite on Wednesday, but Epic teased the arrival of Sarah Connor from The Terminator franchise Thursday morning, and after this story was published, officially announced that she and the T-800 Terminator had joined the game. That means you’ll be able to pit the Terminator against the Predator in a fight for the ages — just hope that Mando doesn’t butt in.

Update January 21st, 7:37PM ET: characters from The Terminator franchise have been added to Fortnite, so we have made changes throughout.