‘Am I the Downside?’ Why Gaming Crossovers Are a Love-Hate Factor

When my pals need to play Magic: The Gathering, I wade by my two-dozen or so decks constructed for Commander — the cardboard recreation’s informal, multiplayer format. I would select the deck constructed round Elenda, the Dusk Rose, a vampire saint who can create legions of vampires. Maybe I’ll take my Narset, Enlightened grasp deck, which lets me forged highly effective spells at no cost when she assaults. Both Elenda and Narset are unique characters from Magic: The Gathering.

Or possibly I’ll seize my Lightning, Army of One deck, constructed across the Final Fantasy 13 character, so I can assault individuals for absurdly excessive quantities of harm. Maybe my Godzilla deck will interact in superb fight in opposition to my pals’ decks led by characters from Dracula or Warhammer 40K. Would Eowyn from Lord of the Rings be a greater match-up in opposition to the forces of the Imperium?

It’s a double-edged sword, this impulse towards crossovers. And it is occurring in video games far past Magic: The Gathering.

Overwatch featured skins from Persona 5 in September, Halo armor and weapons confirmed up in Helldivers 2, and edgy looter shooter Borderlands 4 is exhibiting up in… golf recreation PGA Tour 2K25. The crossover crown lies eternally with Fortnite, due to its endless inflow of skins from video games, films, comics and real-life celebrities — main gamers utilizing the Sabrina Carpenter pores and skin to cease taking pictures one another and, say, hold impromptu concerts instead.

When the weather match one another are dealt with with care, it is a enjoyable method for followers to have interaction with a number of pursuits concurrently. But when it feels carelessly thrown-together or when the weather do not mesh, it might really feel like a money seize that hollows out the unique property. And what works for one participant may really feel egregious or immersion-breaking to a different. 

“Am I the problem?” I ask myself, as I work on a fourth Magic deck constructed round a Final Fantasy character, after spending a whole lot of {dollars} on playing cards and equipment from the set. 

I do understand that the cash I spent on the discharge occasion and weekly drafts screamed to Hasbro, “It’s working!” At the identical time, taking part in with playing cards from that Final Fantasy set was additionally probably the most enjoyable I’ve had with Magic in a number of years. 

Corporations betting huge on model crossovers feels just like the unavoidable consequence of a world through which gamers look increasingly for personalisation and methods to point out off their personalities and pursuits, which dovetails with corporations searching for profitable methods to draw new gamers and enhance income in ongoing video games. Is different media filtering into widespread video games in regards to the pleasure of together with acquainted faces, or does it flip characters into digital bumper stickers, starved of their identification from their unique context? 

The reply, prefer it or not, is each. 

Money is an enormous a part of the motivation, however increasing attain and providing customization additionally think about

Blending totally different properties collectively usually requires an intense collaboration between the property house owners and the sport inviting the crossover. So what makes these gaming collaborations value it for these events? 

There’s a monetary incentive, to make certain, as Hasbro has made astonishingly clear. In its second-quarter 2025 earnings name, CEO Chris Cocks famous that Magic: The Gathering’s Final Fantasy set made $200 million in revenue in one day, whereas it took the Lord of the Rings set six months to hit that milestone. To put these two collaborations within the context of unique Magic: The Gathering units, the bestselling Magic set earlier than Lord of the Rings was Modern Horizons, which made $200 million over two years. 

Admittedly, $200 million in 24 hours is efficiency that Magic: The Gathering will doubtless battle to duplicate, even with the overabundance of outdoor properties coming next year: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Hobbit, Star Trek and Marvel. Still, Cocks mentioned the corporate feels good in regards to the collaborations set to launch subsequent yr by way of pleasing gamers and bringing in income. And Final Fantasy in the end factors to the monetary energy of a superb gaming crossover, one the place the properties are dealt with thoughtfully and deliberately (even when a few of that intention is making the collaboration extra collectible).

To higher perceive how and why these crossovers occur, I talked with a few of the individuals powering these gaming collaborations. 

There have been “a lot of clues” each internally and externally that Magic might help these sorts of crossovers within the recreation, mentioned Aaron Forsythe, Magic: The Gathering’s vice chairman of analysis and improvement.

Sets like Lord of the Rings and Final Fantasy may assist funnel new gamers right into a recreation that has been round since 1993.

“With Final Fantasy, we have seen a marked increase in play participation, especially among players who haven’t previously participated in our Organized Play programs,” mentioned Rebecca Shepard, the vice chairman of franchise for Magic: The Gathering. That participation additionally extends after the launch of units primarily based on the opposite properties, which Magic manufacturers Universes Beyond.

She famous that Universes Beyond releases additionally result in elevated curiosity in older merchandise, demonstrating the crossovers’ capacity to drive curiosity within the recreation’s unique creations.

Magic’s designers have spent a long time creating a number of in-game worlds or “planes” with their very own lore, characters and mechanics. To a sure diploma, crossovers are baked into its premise. 

But what about one thing with a significantly smaller scope, just like the hero shooter Overwatch 2? The team-based recreation is ready in nearish future Earth, the place different Blizzard video games like Diablo and Starcraft are minimal components of the world as references and outfits. But other than a small Lego crossover, different exterior properties have been largely solely winked at… till the sport launched skins from the favored manga and anime One-Punch Man again in 2023.

The recreation’s collaborations began out as rare occasions, however now present up roughly each season.

The Overwatch crew was nervous for its first collaboration and took a cautious method, mentioned Aimee Dennett, Overwatch’s affiliate director of product administration. Devs needed to make sure that heroes have been nonetheless recognizably Overwatch characters whereas additionally sustaining the integrity of the sport’s lore. The resolution was described as “our characters are cosplaying,” that means that the Overwatch heroes keep the long-lasting components of their visible identification, whereas incorporating components which might be recognizable because the characters from the crossover properties.

There are additionally inside motivations for these alternatives.

“We’ve found that it has such a positive effect on the team,” mentioned Overwatch’s Art Director, Dion Rogers. People who work on the sport are additionally followers of those properties, and the chance to design these crossovers generally is a inventive spark for the builders. 

Fortnite did not begin the get together, however it did invite mainly everybody

Fortnite is the de facto instance of crossovers in gaming. It represents an astonishing evolution of an idea that kicked off a long time in the past. 

Video recreation publishers have been firmly protecting of their properties to maintain their video games distinctive, however gaming web site Giant Bomb asserts that crossovers started in earnest with 1992’s Battle Soccer, the place Godzilla might take the pitch in opposition to big mech Gundams and superheroes from Japanese TV. A number of years later, Marvel’s X-Men confronted off in opposition to Street Fighter characters in a transfer that will ultimately spawn the Marvel vs. Capcom sequence of preventing video games.

Crossovers ramped up within the 2000s with Sonic the Hedgehog and Solid Snake as the primary two characters not owned by Nintendo to point out up in Smash Bros. Brawl, a couple of years earlier than horror film villain Freddy Krueger first appeared in a Mortal Kombat recreation. Thematically, these all make some sense — however Fortnite took crossovers to a different degree. 

The crossovers began with the Infinity Gauntlet limited-time mode, the place gamers might rework into Thanos, the villain of the 2019 movie Avengers: Infinity War. It was rapidly adopted by the primary Marvel-themed skins for Black Widow and Star-Lord that any participant might put on. That kicked off a wave of Fortnite crossovers that will develop past Marvel to additionally embody DC Comics, Star Wars, celebrities and varied different video games.

More have adopted in Fortnite’s wake. The soar to incorporate characters from different media moreover video video games has confirmed widespread, with video games like Mortal Kombat bringing within the villainous superhuman Homelander from The Boys, and the asymmetrical PVP horror recreation Dead by Daylight leaning closely into killers and survivors from varied video games and films — and likewise Nicolas Cage as himself, delivering some actually superb voice strains.

Still, in the case of bringing in all the pieces from in every single place, nothing tops Fortnite, the place crossover occasions really feel much less like visitor stars and extra like the primary cease for main franchise promotion. And the cumulative outcomes are, for lack of a greater phrase, bonkers. Now a squad of Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga and Sabrina Carpenter can face off in opposition to a squad made up of Darth Vader, the Joker, Thanos and Mortal Kombat’s Sub-Zero… after which carry out *NSYNC’s Bye Bye Bye dance on the villains’ corpses.

Epic Games, the makers of Fortnite, declined to remark for this story. 

Convenience and customization… at a price

While crossovers with different properties assist convey income and new gamers into video games, additionally they danger alienating gamers whose main curiosity is of their video games’ unique ideas and who could really feel the crossovers transfer the sport away from its identification.

“We listen and learn more than folks realize but at the same time, our goal of making Magic for everyone — because it is — can also frustrate our existing players,” mentioned Shepard in response to a query in regards to the suggestions to Universes Beyond and the seemingly polarized responses on-line.

You can see that frustration in movies from outstanding Magic creators, with titles like “The Problems With Universes Beyond — Even if You’re NOT a Hater” and “Half of Magic: The Gathering Will Not Be Magic: The Gathering.” The discussions in these movies contact on a number of components, however heart across the proportion of and execution of Universes Beyond units and the way these units do or do not gel with the remainder of the sport. 

That stress exists with most gaming crossovers. I wasn’t initially a fan of Overwatch’s transfer into collaborations. For me, the picture of Doomfist in a yellow go well with and flowing cape cheapened a personality who’s purported to be a surly huge unhealthy within the Overwatch universe. To me, it felt tonally mismatched together with his identification, and I feared Overwatch feeling much less like Overwatch because of this.

But the response I noticed was largely optimistic. A change being celebrated does not imply it is essentially good for the sport, nor does outcry imply a change is unhealthy. But there have been clearly individuals who needed the customization and expression of anime skins, highlighting the stress inherent in gaming collaborations like this.

Magic’s Aaron Forsythe acknowledged the competing pursuits, saying, “Players that have been with us for a while don’t feel the need for a change of this magnitude, and I appreciate how this hits them. But we’re doing this both because we want to grow the game — and we are — and because we think it’s another really fun way to enjoy it.”

For longstanding followers who’ve performed the sport for years, maybe even a long time, it could really feel just like the assets for the sport’s unique concepts are being diverted to gas crossovers. 

There are levels, although. In the case of Magic: The Gathering, one-time Secret Lair drops like Sonic the Hedgehog that largely present up in informal multiplayer codecs could not appear as disruptive. But over the course of subsequent yr, Magic will launch 4 extra units primarily based on exterior properties, bringing the full to seven such units in two years. More than any particular person card or set, that density of outdoor properties may really feel notably unwelcome, contributing to the sensation that it’s just Fortnite now.

Everyone is right here (and right here to remain)

I feel lots of the response to crossovers comes down to 2 issues: how properly the idea suits and the way good the execution is. Fortnite itself has change into a conglomeration of varied recreation sorts — from Battle Royale to Lego to Ballistic, festivals and Creative modes — so the sport that includes skins from every kind of films, video games and celebrities kind of suits into that “everything for everyone” thought. 

Something like Dead by Daylight is an instance of utilizing crossovers with a narrower focus, incorporating horror icons that match its gameplay and lore. Resident Evil characters making an attempt to flee from Halloween’s Michael Myers does not make complete sense, however there’s sufficient of an inside logic within the genres of slasher movies and survival horror video games for it to work. 

And, regardless of my preliminary reservations about Overwatch’s collaborations, I used to be instantly enthralled once I noticed Kiriko’s Suki pores and skin from Avatar: The Last Airbender. In addition to giving me a brand new outlet for my favourite character from the present, it simply match the visible identification and the idea of the Overwatch hero, a protector in her own right.

The individuals behind the video games acknowledge how a lot that issues. “If we don’t do this right,” Overwatch’s Rogers instructed me, “the fans will call us out.” Players have their very own concepts of what suits and what does not, and so they aren’t shy about voicing these emotions. But Rogers mentioned that getting it proper as an alternative helps keep the identification of the sport’s heroes.

Similarly, Magic’s Shepard mentioned one step within the strategy of evaluating potential crossovers is feeling out whether or not it appears like “an authentic relationship” for the sport and its gamers. The problem, nonetheless, is that every participant’s mileage will range in the case of that authenticity. 

There’s no placing these crossovers again within the field, for higher and worse. We’ll proceed to have extra choices to play as our favourite characters throughout a wide range of video games. Right now, if I needed to, I might fireplace up Street Fighter 6 and play a recreation as Chun-Li within the context of her unique sequence. I might then swap over to Fortnite and run round sniping individuals as Chun-Li earlier than logging into Overwatch and taking part in as Juno in her Chun-Li pores and skin, therapeutic individuals with a Martian mediblaster. And then over the weekend, I might play Magic: The Gathering with my pals and pull out a deck constructed round a Chun-Li character card.

For Chun-Li superfans, that is nice. At the identical time, my Magic opponents could also be sick of taking part in in opposition to characters from Stranger Things, Jurassic Park and Marvel, which could break the immersion of the sport for them. 

The demand is there and the complaints are legitimate. Companies will comply with the cash. But every recreation’s builders have to search out their very own method of squaring the crossover — justifying (or not) how one other inventive world collides with theirs. 

For Overwatch’s Dennett, as the sport grows and adjustments, so does the crew’s philosophy about collaborations — as a result of pushing the boundaries of what is doable within the hero shooter sparks the imaginations of its participant base. 

“It’s sort of a self-reinforcing cycle, where our players grow and change so much, and so do the types of collaborations, and the types of collaborations change, which grows and changes our players.”

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Correction, Nov. 24: A earlier model of this story misspelled the title of Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks.