Fortnite’s partnership with Harry Potter is not a surprise. A skin that is assumed to be for Harry Potter has been leaked, and it is said that players’ reaction towards it has been very unmagical Epic Games may not have planned for it but they have been hoping for a magical reception. Variable-shaped character skin that has been leaked, players have already made countless memes and confusion has spread in social media, with many gamers questioning if this is even the Harry Potter’s universe at all.
The source must be very trusted as usually is the case with such leaks, and the image shows a character dressed in a dark professor’s robe along with a scarf. But the Harry Potter picture is not there for most fans. The character does not have the glasses, the iconic lightning scar is not even slightly visible, just a guy that could be anyone. The message that was sent along with the image read ‘HARRY POTTER x FORTNITE SKIN REVEAL’ and ‘COMING THIS WINTERFEST,’ but the gamers merely took a single look at it and responded with something like ‘nope.’
To start with, the discussion part erupted with non-other than pure, explicit, and total astonishment. One user, KetsuppiSucks, was quick to comment: ‘Didnt even do the movie version holy shit this will actually be the first collab with 0 sales.’ That hurts, doesn’t it? Another user, sakurabling, in a way that was very direct yet went straight to the point said: ‘thats not harry potter thats just potter.’ This made me think that they had the concept but forgot to get the real face license, you know?
So the thing is, already the nicknames were invented for the leaked character. Some of the names that have been suggested for the avatar up until now are super hilarious. One user even created the name ‘Harry Potthead’. Another was ‘Parry Hotter’. What about ‘bald painter’ from user benyobest! It is so unexpected and precise that it makes me laugh. The general mood of the people is nicely expressed by rypoldx. He just posted a crying-laughing emoji with the question ‘bro who is that 😒. That’s the mood. That’s the whole vibe of the leak.
The most controversial point must be the lack of glasses, at least that’s what people talk about the most. Many of them just go like ‘Where are the glasses?’ or ‘Should have at least added the glasses’ in the reply section. It is such a vital element of the character’s image that it seems wrong to just discard it. Is it an alternate world Harry who has undergone laser surgery? Some have hypothesized that it is a ‘glasses off’ mode, a variant you can switch to, but without a locator, it just seems wrong. User SirRubenSandwich tried to be the calm voice, advising people not to take movie designs into account in order not to be disappointed. But come on, when you say ‘Harry Potter,’ people do expect to see Harry Potter.
There’s also a lot of speculation that this might be the case of a larger collection. One of the replies by George Garden infers that the characters will become more alive and more skins will be released. He claims ‘There are going to be four House Skins, it means it’s a Harry Potter branded skin, not actually Harry Potter.’ That is quite a significant distinction. A very simple one. If what we perceive is just a representation of a Gryffindor Hogwarts student skin, and only afterwards, say, actual Harry, Hermione, and Ron will become available as premium skins, that would not be a problem at all. It would also mimic the classic Epic strategy perfectly—tease the free or basic item to create hype for the paid, iconic ones. But the leak just labeled it ‘Harry Potter,’ so the misunderstanding is completely justifiable.
Some players are already resigning to the fact and counting this one as a loss. User ‘keep’ abruptly stated, ‘Not buying ts now. I was hyped to.’ Others are humorously targeting the budget, with chewyebok sharing a gif and saying ‘they ran out of budget.’ The comparison with online discount retailer Temu has even surfaced, with one user referring to it as ‘Harry Potter from temu.’ That’s gotta be a bitter pill for Epic to swallow, being compared with a low-price app.
However, we should not forget that Fortnite has a reputation for insane collaborations. They have managed to create so many great looks by drawing from popular culture, from Marvel to Star Wars, even to, like, actual real-life people. Therefore, a leak of a bizarre-looking Harry Potter is not in line with their branding. It is possible that this is an unfinished model, a placeholder, or even a deliberate mislead. Winterfest is still some time, and many players will be watching on their PlayStation or Xbox consoles.
