The extremely popular video game Fortnite has become very well known since 2018, according to Demandsage, Fortnite peaked at an all time high of 126 million monthly active users. But lately Fortnite has been receiving backlash after collaborating with the popular Television (TV) show, South Park. People are saying it’s wrong to collaborate with a rated M for mature TV show, while the game is rated T for teens. But what people don’t understand is that Fortnite has been collaborating with movies rated R and other games rated M for years.
I don’t see a problem with any collaborations in the game due to the fact that Fortnite has been making collabs with 17+ brands for years. I’ve been playing Fortnite since 2018, well under the 13+ age suggestion the game has. At the time, I had little information about the brands and didn’t really care to look up what they were. Fortnite does a good job of not giving details of what the game or show is about and just adds the in game cosmetics and a short caption for the cosmetics. In game cosmetics can vary from your character or “skin” to what pickaxe they swing or what they carry on their back. In my opinion, if you’re a parent letting your child play fortnite then there’s a good chance your kid already knows what the show or game is about anyway.
The earliest 17+ collaboration happened all the way in 2019 with Borderlands. The collaboration consisted of a Borderlands themed area on the map and a “skin” coming with a “backbling” and pickaxe. Another example could be an even earlier example with the John Wick movies. Fortnite added a John Wick skin and a limited time game mode. I could go on and on with other examples like Deadpool, God of War, Halo, The Walking Dead, and many more. But nobody batted an eye for those collaborations and I’m still not sure why. Fortnite has been doing these types of collaborations for years.
According to Fortnite Statistics 2025, the average age of a Fortnite player is 18 – 24, leading the majority with 24 – 62.7% of players. With another 22.5 – 25.5% being 25 – 34 years old. These statistics show that players in 2025 were older than players in 2018, with some players most likely growing up with the game. This statistic also means that adding 18+ collaborations shouldn’t be much of an issue due to the majority of players being 18+ to start with.
According to Children’s Hospital Colorado, the average age to get a phone is between 11 and 12 years old. Having a phone can open up a huge part of the internet. People at this age have most likely already seen clips of South Park on their For You Page, this For You Page could either be on apps such as Youtube, TikTok, or even Instagram.
If you dislike a collaboration you can simply avoid buying it, even more so if you really wanted to you could stop playing the game entirely. Fortnite can’t take out a collaboration just because of a few people. But another solution could also simply just be that Fortnite stops adding these types of collaborations and sticks to “family friendly” themes.
At the end of the day it’s a videogame, a videogame that has no power in the real world. The collaborations in the game are just in game. Nothing will happen even if the show is rated at an M for mature.
