1. Fortnite
With its most recent introduction of the literal Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, I think Fortnite is, for lack of a better word, complete. It has fully become the playground of my childhood, where Ninja Turtles do battle alongside Spider-Man while Goku zips through the sky with a pump shotgun. A screenshot of the current state of Fortnite would disintegrate a Victorian child, and I think there’s some beauty to that. I mean, where else can I play as Godzilla in Nike Air Force 1’s?
But in truth, each one of these collabs, and more, fit into Fortnite so well because Fortnite itself is kind of … nothing. Its lore is riddled with black holes and ripples in the fabric of the universe that explain away the constant shifting of its world, as well as the appearance of IP like Halo, God of War, John Wick, Marvel, and DC, to name just a few. It’s a perfect blank slate, and that’s why no one bats an eye at an in-game Travis Scott concert or Sabrina Carpenter in a bright yellow dress brandishing an assault rifle. Its cartoonish graphics make it an appropriate avenue for the introduction of characters from children’s media, but it also stylizes others who might not otherwise fit the tone. Unlike some other games on this list, most inclusions here feel legible and like a cohesive part of the whole.
Above all else, Fortnite is still a ridiculously good time. Sure, the sheer amount of crossovers here is too much, and buying into every single one would eat you of house and home, but Fortnite makes participating in its crossover events worthwhile most of the time. Often, it’ll add entirely new mechanics as part of an event or season, upending the structure of the game at the drop of a hat, for better or worse. You’ll even get emotes and skins just for participating in events, so despite the presence of premium passes to buy into, the free versions of these aren’t without goodies. At the end of the day, Fortnite may be the single biggest culprit of crossovers–so much so that the presence of them in other games has been dubbed “Fortnitification”–making it the biggest potential moneysink of the bunch. But it’s also a wondrous sandbox full of action figures and the closest we’ve got to a video game Disneyland, so that certainly softens the blow.
