Back in 2006, Trey Parker and Matt Stone took aim at the global gaming phenomenon World of Warcraft, spoofing the popular MMO in a special episode of South Park. In the Season 10 episode, “Make Love, Not Warcraft,” the boys become obsessed with the game and must team up to defeat a high-level griefer wreaking havoc across the virtual world.
It wasn’t the first time South Park poked fun at video games, but the episode has since become one of the show’s most famous gaming parodies.
Now, South Park is taking aim at another popular game, Fortnite, though not quite in the same way. Rather than creating a full episode dedicated to Fortnite, the world of South Park is actually invading the battle royale.
Epic Games announced the upcoming Fortnite x South Park collaboration which will take place in the game on Thursday, January 9th. The announced was shared online with an image of Butters sitting in the in-game lobby which his character. The "Chaos, loading..." text could suggest that Butters' alter ego, Professor Chaos, could serve as an in-game skin or possibly a limited-time world boss.
As noted over on GameFragger, the image of the in-game lobby shows five party slots, suggesting we could also be getting five-player squads soon.
While more details will be shared on Thursday, multiple leaks have been shared online. It's rumored that the show's main characters -- Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny -- will be available with multiple skins; however, they'll be making their appearance with mech suits to account for their short stature. Like other collabs, these skins will likely be available for purchase through the in-game store individually or as part of a special bundle that may also include additional themed cosmetics such as emotes, pickaxes, back bling, and more. I'm personally holding out hope that the boys' iconic Japanese warrior outfits from the Season 8 "Good Times with Weapons" episode will also be featured in some form.
Other rumors suggest a tie in to South Park: The Stick of Truth, the 2014 role-playing game from Obsidian Entertainment. It's reported that the Stick of Truth will be a Mythic item that could modify or influence the storm mechanic, perhaps changing its location or behavior. There's also talk of a "Rift Anomoly," referred to as "Everyone Kills Kenny," which could grant players an extra respawn as a nod to the show's frequent killing of the character.
South Park is the latest animated series to featured in Fortnite. The long-running battle royale game has seen content from other animated franchises such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, Dragon Ball Z, Rick & Morty, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, to name a few.