While some fans accuse Epic Games of trivializing sexual violence, others consider the outrage completely overblown.
Fortnite has already brought numerous horror characters into its colorful Battle Royale. Now Nikki Freeman from the horror movie *Obsession* is entering the fray. But the new skin isn’t generating only excitement. Because Epic Games is also using a disturbing scene from the movie as an emote, some fans are accusing the company of handling the source material insensitively. There are even isolated calls for a boycott on social media.
Epic unveiled the new skin alongside Nikki’s actress, Inde Navarrette. As part of the Halloween event *Fortnite: Nightmares*, the character will appear as an outfit featuring a matching back accessory, a pickaxe, and an emote. The emote has Nikki holding up cartoon-style signs reading “No, no, no,” referencing a well-known scene from the movie. What some see as an amusing nod to the film is, for others, the crux of the problem.
Spoiler warning: In the following section, we reveal a crucial plot twist from *Obsession*..
Why Nikki, of all people, is sparking controversy
To understand the criticism, you need to be familiar with the plot of director Curry Barker’s horror film. Bear (Michael Johnston) has long been in love with his coworker Nikki (Inde Navarrette), but doesn’t dare confess his feelings to her. Instead, he turns to a magical object called the One Wish Willow and wishes that Nikki would love him more than anyone else in the world. His wish does indeed come true, but with terrible consequences: Nikki develops a pathological obsession with Bear, which takes on increasingly violent traits.
As the film progresses, it becomes clear that Nikki has lost control of her body as a result of the wish. Her true self can only make itself known occasionally, while Bear even enters into a sexual relationship with the mind-controlled Nikki. When the real Nikki finally breaks through to him, she begs him to kill her and thus put her out of her misery. Bear refuses, but tries to reverse the curse in other ways.
Nikki is not just another creepy movie character, but also a victim of sexual violence and complete control by others. That is precisely why some people find her portrayal as a Fortnite skin to be in poor taste. Ironically, a character who is stripped of all control over her own body in the movie is now also being “remotely controlled” in a video game.
Added to this is the emote, which references the famous restaurant scene from the movie. In it, Bear questions Nikki’s claim about her father supposedly having cancer, to which she responds with an increasingly threatening “No, no, no.” In Fortnite, this is turned into a cartoon sequence where Nikki presents her words on signs. What causes unease in the movie serves as a joke in the game.
Calls for a boycott meet with a lack of understanding
On X, numerous people have voiced criticism of the collaboration. “I think it’s kind of awful how Nikki has been turned into a meme. It overshadows the horrific things her character goes through in the movie,” writes, for example, a user.
Others criticize Epic Games for marketing a character whose story revolves around psychological torture and the loss of self-determination. One post, which has since been deleted, even explicitly called for a boycott of Fortnite.
Other fans consider the criticism exaggerated and argue that an appearance in Fortnite does not automatically trivialize the character’s story. After all, many players would buy a specific skin precisely because the character and her story mean something to them. Moreover, Nikki is, after all, a fictional character.
Interestingly, this isn’t the first controversy surrounding Nikki’s marketing. Her appearance at Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights had already sparked debate. There, visitors could encounter an actress dressed as Nikki roaming the theme park. Back then, too, there was debate over whether such a character was even suitable as a Halloween attraction.
Inde Navarrette herself, however, doesn’t seem to have any fundamental problem with the commercialization of her film role. The actress was involved in the unveiling of the Fortnite skin and even had her picture taken with a Nikki performer during a visit to Halloween Horror Nights.
