It's hard to even grasp the amount of crossovers that Persona 5 has had with other media, especially with the protagonist Joker. Other than the many Atlus games like Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight or Catherine: Full Body, Joker (and other Phantom Thieves, in some cases) has appeared in numerous other third-party games. He was a playable DLC character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a playable character in games like Granblue Fantasy and Another Eden, among many other mobile crossovers. Now, "rumors" and "leaks" have started to churn about Joker joining Fortnite, even though fans believing these rumors is arguably warranted.
Considering the Phantom Thieves' most iconic leader has seemingly debuted in various other games, bringing him to the evergreen battle royale doesn't seem too far-fetched. Fortnite has been making a licensed-content party out of its latest Season 5, bringing in characters from Disney's The Mandalorian to Capcom's Street Fighter. The overall bounty hunter theme has opened up the game to a ton of crossovers, a foundation with which Persona 5 seemingly wouldn't be exempt from, so many figured leaks were true. Wouldn't be the first time an upcoming Fortnite crossover was leaked, but this particular Persona 5 crossover is the subject of an elaborate meme.
Rumors and "Leaks" of Persona 5 x Fortnite Are Fake
Of course, it was joke-Tweets akin to this one that baited plenty of fans, both in and outside of the Persona and Fortnite fanbases, into believing this news was true. The perfect storm of multiple crossovers for Joker and Persona 5 with other media, as well as Fortnite's propensity for including crossovers of all kinds, led to this rumor. However, clever posters like this one stoked the flames by borrowing art from existing crossovers, with that tweet in particular borrowing the art from Joker's Catherine: Full Body crossover. Most seasoned fans of Persona quickly caught on that this was a hoax, before the account itself jokingly replied with the Fortnite/DC Joker trailer.
Another less "viral" tweet with images of Persona 5-themed Fortnite items started making the rounds as well, but they were all pretty clearly doctored images. Made to look like leaks, blurry images of assets and artwork tricked another few into believing it was true, if only briefly. In fairness to any fans who did believe any of these rumors, if Atlus and Sega not set a precedent with previous crossovers, then the faked images would've been much less believable. Not to say Joker wouldn't be a strangely awesome addition to Fortnite's roster, but the likelihood of any rumors surrounding an actual Persona 5 x Fortnite crossover is basically slim to none currently.
Persona 5 Doesn't Fit With Epic Games' Season 5 Plan
In a more granular sense, there are plenty of thematic and potential logistical reasons why Joker probably wouldn't be suited to join the battle royale. Fortnite's current season is all based around the theme of various agents joining "the hunt," which isn't exactly the Phantom Thieves' modus operandi as gentleman thieves. Even more specifically, every single character that's joined Fortnite as part of Season 5's many crossovers have been from western media. Kratos, Master Chief, Sarah Connor, The Mandalorian, The Walking Dead, Snake Eyes, even Ripley from Alien, these are all characters from or based on American games, films, shows, and more.
Plus, Persona 5 has already had its biggest crossover yet with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, where character diversity is far more varied. Atlus has a history with injecting Persona characters into fighting games like Persona 4 Arena, so it makes sense Joker ended up in a fighting game first. Considering Arc System Works was likely busy with several fighting games in development, instead of dedicating an entire fighting game for Persona 5, Joker joined the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster. That's without assuming Sakurai or Sora Ltd. hadn't approached Atlus/Sega for a collaboration already, which likely would've affected any licensing/crossover plans.
Regardless of what the overlap of Fortnite and Persona 5 fans actually is, undoubtedly there are fans out there disappointed that Joker isn't "joining the hunt." Some even prefer he stay out of Fortnite, for whatever reason. Persona 5's Joker has ended up in a lot of different crossovers over the last few years, some clever, some absurd. Fortnite is just not one of those crossovers, no matter how convincing (or not convincing) "leaks" on social media might be.
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