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Riot Cofounder Says Epic Terms are "Too Onerous" for Arcane Fortnite Skins

  • Riot Games Co-Founder elaborates on the future of Arcane skins in Fortnite
  • Will the Arcane skins ever return to Fortnite?

Taven Passey

Will the Arcane skins ever return to Fortnite?
Will the Arcane skins ever return to Fortnite? / @ShiinaBR on X.com

Fortnite’s Arcane Season has been picking up lots of media attention in the last few weeks as Epic executives have made multiple comments on the return of these highly desired skins to Fortnite. In April, Riot Games Co-Founder Marc Merrill said on X that these skins will not be returning “in the foreseeable future.” As fans have pushed the issue further over the last month, Marc issued another comment over the weekend that confirms that Arcane skins will not be making a return to Fortnite anytime soon. Let’s take a look at what we know so far. 

Related Article: Riot Co-Founder Responds to Fans Begging for Arcane Skins to Return to Fortnite

Epic Games Terms are “Too Onerous” for Fortnite Skins

On May 11th, Riot Games Co-Founder Marc Merrill added to the Arcane skins discourse even further. Marc put out a post on X that said “Happy Mother’s Day to All Mothers!” In the replies, a user took it upon themselves to ask if 200k signatures on a petition would be enough to make Riot “renegotiate with Epic for the return of Arcane Skins?”

Merrill didn’t hesitate to give a direct response to this user: 

“No, the IP rights terms / terms are too onerous”

- Marc Merrill, Riot Games Co-Founder

Will Arcane Skins Ever Return to Fortnite?

This response from Merrill makes it clear that the Arcane skins will not be returning anytime soon, and may never return to Fortnite. As direct competitors of each other, fans were shocked when this collaboration between Epic and Riot Games was announced initially. 

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With Fortnite having the most high-stakes IP collaborations of any game, there is a surplus of demand for every creator and rising media franchise to get their share of Fortnite inclusion. Due to this, it is understandable that Epic would have very strict terms when it comes to IP negotiation.

Large companies like Riot Games that are also direct competitors to Epic will also have strict policies on their internal IP collaborations which makes a compromise between two major studios difficult to facilitate. Unless Arcane needs a large marketing push in the future, it is unlikely that these skins will return to Fortnite for a long time. 

Related Article: Peterbot & AussieAntics Win the Fortnite Pro-am

Esports Impact

In the years since the initial collaboration, Fortnite has evolved and collaborated with members from all corners of media. During this time, Arcane has become much more popular with mainstream media fans as opposed to the niche League of Legends fanbase. This means there is even less need to get Arcane in front of gamers than there was years ago. 

With this in mind, it wouldn’t make much sense for Riot Games to use a competitors platform to promote their series in the future, making the return of the Arcane skins to Fortnite highly unlikely. 

However, Merrill hasn’t completely closed the door on this return and is aware of the fan desire for the skins to make a return. Below is a portion of his statement from April: 

“We know there’s been a lot of love for these—and we really appreciate how much you all care and how much effort you’ve put into advocating for their return. If anything changes in the future, we’ll let you know ASAP”

- Marc Merrill, Riot Games Co-Founder

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Taven Passey
TAVEN PASSEY

Taven is a recent graduate from the University of Oregon's Sports Business program. During his time post-grad, he has developed his own website where he has covered the Call of Duty League as well as college football. He competed semi-professionally in the CDL Challengers Circuit for three years as well as for The University of Oregon's CCL team, which made playoffs and placed T48 each of Taven's three years. Taven still enjoys playing Call of Duty in his spare time, as well as World of Warcraft and any game he is obsessing over at the time.

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