The Foundation is the way to do celebrities in Fortnite

If you think about it, Fortnite is ridiculous. I’ve heard people describe the game as a virtual action figure box, where you can play with your favorite media entities from Naruto to Ariana Grande. With so many crossover characters, the identity of the Fortnite game itself is muddled. So what makes The Rock as The Foundation so different?

The Foundation is the way to do celebrities in Fortnite

It’s sometimes hard to see Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s characters as anyone but The Rock himself, as the characters he portrays are often written with his own charisma in mind.

The Foundation is an infectiously cool character, but that’s mostly due to The Rock being an infectiously cool actor. It isn’t anything new in that regard, but it is in Fortnite.

When it comes to celebrities, Fortnite uses their likenesses as that celebrity. For example, Neymar Jr., while having a cool werewolf-like outfit, is still the person Neymar Jr. Ariana Grande isn’t playing a character. There is some hilarity in gunning down Naruto as Bruno Mars, I’ll admit.

Somehow, this paradigm flips when it comes to The Rock playing not himself, but a character. It feels like a good direction for the game while leveraging the same highly profitable crossover ability.

The Rock playing The Foundation gives the game two key benefits. One the one hand, you have The Rock’s star power driving players to the game. On the other hand, he’s playing a cool character that’s uniquely Fortnite. It strengthens both the game’s marketing presence and the game’s own identity beyond that virtual toy box.

The Foundation gives the game a sense of dignity that it didn’t have before. While I know that crossovers are a major cash cow for Epic Games, I want to see more characters involved that are portrayed by major celebrities and not portrayals of them.

The Foundation is an outfit I’m sure many players will be proud to own, fans of The Rock or not.