- Seth MacFarlane said Epic Games didn't have the budget to make Peter Griffin's body.
- The iconic character was added to Fortnite last month as part of a large update.
The reason Peter Griffin is so jacked in Fortnite might be because Epic Games didn't have the budget to get his round frame into the game.
Fans had speculated for years that Peter Griffin might be eventually added to Fortnite after data miners found images of him hidden in the games files in 2021, according to Gamespot. In December, they got their wish when Fortnite dropped a massive update adding a LEGO play mode, Rocket League racing, and a playable Peter Griffin skin, among other updates.
Several other notable cartoon characters exist in the Fortnite universe with their bodies depicted more true to form than that the current Peter Griffin skin, such as Rick from "Rick and Morty" and Fry, Leela, and Dr. Zoidberg from "Futurama." Still, players wondered how the game would be able to add Peter Griffin, with his large frame making it seemingly difficult to create accurate hit boxes.
Canonically, the reason Peter is buff in the game is because he meets a muscular cat named Meowcles who gives him a "slurp juice" to buff him up. (yes that's a real sentence)
But in an interview with IGN, "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane said Peter's muscles might actually be in place because Epic Games didn't have the funds to animate his body normally.
"He's very muscular in there, right?" MacFarlane said. "I was told they didn't have the budget to create his actual body."
MacFarlane added that Epic had to "stick his head" onto a different character's body.
If Epic Games doesn't have the funds to animate Peter Griffin, it certainly isn't because it's losing money in court. The video game company recently won a landmark civil case against Google involving Fortnite.
Epic Games sued Google after Fortnite was banned from the Google Play Store because Epic allowed users to buy in-game features from the game developer directly, avoiding Google's fees on in-app purchases.
On December 11, a jury found that the Google held a monopoly in its Play Store, limiting the reach of competitors' apps and charging high fees for processing in-app purchases.
MacFarlane said when he was originally approached about adding Peter to the game, he didn't know what Fortnite was.
"I had to have somebody explain to me what the fuck Fortnite is," MacFarlane said. "And then I said, 'Well, that sounds kind of cool.'
MacFarlane notably did not voice Peter in the promotional video released by Epic Games showing his encounter with Meowscles, in which Peter has no voice lines.