What did The Simpsons x Fortnite collab get right to make it so successful?

Since its debut at the start of November, the Simpsons x Fortnite collab has been one of the biggest success stories of 2025. The animated series has seamlessly integrated itself into Epic Games’ battle royale title, as the map transforms into Springfield. Combined with items and weapons that reference classic moments from the show, players have been enjoying this mini-season in a bunch of ways.

Indeed, in the first 48 hours of the collab being playable, according to tracker.gg, almost three million players logged onto Fortnite, a huge number that’s only slightly dropped throughout November. With the Simpsons x Fortnite collab concluding on November 29 with a ‘Zero Hour’ event, we’re looking back to see just what Epic Games and Disney got right about this mini-season.

The Simpsons has been going since 1989, meaning many players in 2025 have grown up with the show in some way. If you go on some social media sites, some groups create memes that take a twist on certain moments from episodes, and are shared in WhatsApp groups and more.

There have even been callbacks in the media to how the show predicted certain events, such as President Trump, the legalisation of marijuana in Canada, The Matrix having a fourth movie, and lots more. The Simpsons is part of pop culture, and both Disney and Epic Games know it.

With this in mind, the Fortnite X Simpsons collab digs into this in droves. For example, you can stand on a rake to gain XP, reflecting Sideshow Bob’s moment in the Season 4 episode, ‘Cape Feare’. Or the Homer clones appearing across the map harkens back to a Treehouse of Horror episode. These, and more, tap into several moments that longtime viewers of the show have enjoyed, and kept them coming back as the mini-season changed in small ways over the month.

First debuting on November 1, once the mini-season became available with Apocalypse D’Oh, a total of four animated shorts premiered throughout the month, showcasing what was new for certain weeks. All of these featured the cast of The Simpsons in their respective voices, bridging the gap between Fortnite and the show in a smart way.

These shorts have been a huge success, each getting over a million views, usually after a day of going live on YouTube and social media sites. They’ve been perfect for players and fans of both Fortnite and The Simpsons to keep track of what’s new each week in this mini-season. It’s not something that’s been done before with a collab, and we’re expecting future animated seasons to take inspiration from these shorts.

As well as taking advantage of the nostalgia that The Simpsons has, there have also been plenty of items that players can buy in the Fortnite Item Shop. Across November, songs like the theme tune and the Monorail song have been available to purchase, as well as characters like Itchy and Scratchy, Moe, and Krusty the Clown to be worn as skins.

It should be noted that it does slightly feel like a missed opportunity here, as there could have been far more characters and items made available in the Item Shop throughout this mini-season. From Mr Burns to McGarnagle, there could have been far more for players to work towards or buy. Nevertheless, what has been available for players has been great, and once purchased, it means they can be used for as long as possible.

Looking at the stats, it’s clear that November has been a great month for Fortnite, and it’s clearly due to The Simpsons collaboration. At the time of writing, roughly 2.5 million players logged on around November 24, compared to 1.7 million on October 24.

Nostalgia works, and this mini-season proves it. Epic Games has done well by working with Disney on the four animated shorts, as well as releasing steady content of cosmetics throughout November. As Chapter 7 approaches on December 1, once the finale takes place on November 29, time will tell if Fortnite can sustain the 2.5 million players currently logged in. But as things stand, it looks like the battle royale has plenty in its arsenal as we head towards the end of 2025.