'Assassin's Creed's' Ezio Is Coming To 'Fortnite'--But How Is This Even Possible?

"Assassin's Creed" darling Ezio Auditore, the stabby franchise's preeminent stab master, looks to be coming to "Fortnite" soon, according to info discovered by dataminers.

PC Gamer reports that "Fortnite" dataminer Shiina shared a few images of the Ezio Auditore skin on Twitter, which looks to be faithful to his appearance during 2009's "Assassin's Creed 2."

But the Ezio skin isn't the only thing that dataminers discovered while pawing through the game's files. Fortnite News also shared on Twitter what looks to be an emote called Assassin's Strike, wherein Ezio flicks his two hidden blades while looking awesome as he does it:

Lastly, the same Twitter profile shared a screenshot of what looks to be a Hidden Blade Pickaxe harvesting tool, which is purportedly going to be "introduced in Chapter 3, Season 1." As you know, Chapter 3 Season 1 is currently underway and is due to end on March 19th (via DotEsports).

What this could mean is that the Hidden Blade Pickaxe, alongside the Ezio Auditore skin and emote, could be released just in time before the current season ends. It also means that an Italian man from the 1400s, a time when guns were still pretty new, will be running around headshooting people with an assault rifle.

The addition of the much beloved "Assassin's Creed" character is the latest in Epic Games' gauntlet of "Fortnite" guest characters over the years. The massively popular battle royale game has hosted almost anyone who is anybody in fiction, like Marvel Comics' Thanos, Hopper from Netflix's "Stranger Things," and even John Wick. They're even introducing Rogue and Gambit from "X-Men" soon.

But how is it even possible for Epic Games to bring in so many "Fortnite" guest characters? The next paragraph explains it all.

How Epic Pulls In So Many Licensed Characters Into 'Fortnite'

So, how does Epic get the likes of "Assassin's Creed's" Ezio Auditore, alongside many other licensed characters, into their battle royale game. The overly simplistic answer is they pay for it. It's nothing but a marketing stunt.

They obviously have the money to do so, after all, considering they earned $840 million in revenue from PC players last year alone (via Epic Games). This isn't even counting those who play on consoles and on mobile, who also spend money on the free-to-play game. With all the money they're pulling, Epic can probably get whichever licensed character they want.

Let's take the collaboration with Marvel, for example. As per TheGamer, that one started off with the fact that popular MCU directors Anthony and Joe Russo, who helmed "Avengers: Endgame" and "Infinity War," among others, were self-confessed big fans of the game.

It is highly likely that Epic Games took note of this and saw a golden opportunity to both market "Fortnite" and bring even more fans (mostly MCU fans) into the game. The result was the Thanos LTM being brought into "Fortnite," with both directors "jumping at the opportunity" to see their work become a part of the game they love.

It's Not All Smooth-Sailing

With all these guest characters coming and going, one can assume that "Fortnite" is now one of the undisputed kings of crossovers barring Nintendo's "Super Smash Bros." But despite this, fans aren't always loving it when licensed characters come into the game.

According to SportsKeeda, there's a growing sentiment among players, which indicates that they're tired of all the collaborations which are, surprisingly, part of the game's lore. So yeah, even "Assassin's Creed's" Ezio Auditore is actually canon within the game's universe, but not always to the delight of players. Some are even saying that the game is now an "ad game" these days, criticizing it for an apparent lack of original content.

Nevertheless, it seems like the collaborations aren't going to end anytime soon.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by RJ Pierce