The many licensed skins are one of the most popular features of Fortnite. The presence of these in the game can be credited to Donald Mustard: The former lead creator of the game even visited Keanu Reeves’ home for John Wick, for example.
Who is Donald Mustard? Donald Mustard is the former lead creator of Fortnite. He started his career in the gaming industry at Crystal Dynamics. He released his first game in 2005: Advent Rising. His career really took off with the release of the shooter Undertow. In 2010, he designed the game Infinity Blade for Apple iPhones.
Since 2016, he has worked as Chief Creative Officer at Epic Games. He was significantly responsible for the creation of the Fortnite Battle Royale mode and oversaw its development until his departure from Epic in 2023.
In an interview with the colleagues from Gamefile, he talked about his career in the gaming industry. Among other things, he mentioned that he himself is responsible for the many different licensed skins. For John Wick, Batman, and others, he sometimes met the licensors in person.
Cool skins for Fortnite: I sat on Keanu Reeves’ couch for a long time
How did he get John Wick? Mustard talked in the interview about how his Fortnite island should feel like the garden of his childhood: It should become a place where Barbie and Batman can exist and interact in one world – just like when he played as a child.
Batman was one of the top items on Mustard’s wish list, right next to John Wick. The main character of the now four action movies is portrayed by Keanu Reeves. Mustard had to convince him to approve the license for a Fortnite skin.
I sat on Keanu Reeves’ couch for a long time and was like: That’s why you should be the first [licensed skin in Fortnite].
Donald Mustard in an interview with Gamefile, 22.04.2024
At the same time, a pitch was also made to DC Comics to license the popular hero Batman for Fortnite. According to his own statement, he made good progress with DC and thought if he could have Batman and John Wick, he would have succeeded.
Keanu Reeves ultimately approved the licensing. Thus, John Wick became the first permanently available skin in Fortnite with the event Wick’s Bounty
. The Batman event started four months later.
Nintendo wanted console exclusivity; Marvel said no
What other skins did he want? In fact, Donald Mustard hoped for more skins, which he could only partially secure for Fortnite:
The first crossover character was the villain Thanos from Avengers: Infinity War. This collaboration came about because the film directors, Joe and Anthony Russo, are big fans of Fortnite. However, when Mustard inquired about a permanent collaboration and licensed skins with Marvel, the comic and film giant declined.
Originally, the creative lead was also in talks with Nintendo. It was about a skin of Samus Aran, the heroine of the Metroid game series. However, Nintendo had concerns as they are reluctant to make their characters available on non-Nintendo platforms. As a result, the collaboration did not materialize.
On the other hand, Mustard was able to score victories: He secured Kratos from God of War and Master Chief from the Halo series for skins.
Skins are still a big topic in Fortnite. Recently, some players used a glitch to acquire a free
skin. However, they now have debts with Epic Games.
