Family Guy creator claims Epic somehow couldn't afford Peter Griffin's actual body for Fortnite

Peter Griffin from Family Guy in Fortnite
(Image credit: Epic Games)

Family Guy's creator has claimed Epic Games "didn't have the budget" to replicate Peter Griffin's actual body in Fortnite.

Seth MacFarlane recently spoke to IGN, in the clip just below, about Peter Griffin's entrance into the world of Fortnite last year in December. "I had to have somebody explain to me what the fuck Fortnite is," MacFarlane said, before joking that someone explaining something to him accounts for the vast majority of his career. 

MacFarlane then commented on Griffin's in-game appearance, after the interviewer mentioned that he's a particular tough character to take down. "He's very muscular in there, right?" MacFarlane said, before revealing he was "told that they didn't have the budget to create his actual body."

According to MacFarlane, what Epic actually did was just stick Griffin's head on another character's body. It's not really clear whether MacFarlane's referring to one Fortnite character in particular, or just a generic character model that Epic worked from to build out their in-game models.

What MacFarlane is ultimately talking about here is Peter Griffin's very swole entrance into Fortnite. A little teaser trailer preceded the character's entrance to the battle royale shooter last year, and basically explained that he had set out a training regimen to make him ready for violence on your TV screen.

MacFarlane says this transformation was down to Epic not actually having the budget for Griffin's TV body, rather than a creative decision. I'd point out that Epic has more money than plenty of countries on the face of the Earth, but perhaps it's more of a budgeting issue than having actual money available. And besides, there is some TV precedent for shredded Peter Griffin, a slightly different version of whom notably appeared in an older episode of Family Guy after some extreme plastic surgery.  

You can read up on our Fortnite Solid Snake guide if you're curious about when the iconic character is entering the game.

Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.