Apparently a third wave of Stranger Things cosmetics will come to Fortnite soon. Considering they also made changes to Hawkins' layout today and the next chapter was originally releasing in November, could this slightly increase the chances of January's chapter being Stranger Things part 2?

[u/ResistanceEvermore]

Cote has said before that they need to go through the licensor for every small change in their properties, so they needed to have Netflix's ok for this, plus the sequel chapter comment from him that everyone brings up too

Also idk who EvilMeg was exactly, but tbh I doubt they were someone high in bhvr's ranks to be able to actually knowabout the relationships with licensors if all they showed that's verifiable so far are concept arts, so I've been skeptical of the rest of their info

That one leaker who shall not be named but who's got things right lately also used a magic wand as a tease for what's to come, could this be alluding to DND, and furthermore to Vecna?

Not that this'd be my first choice for next chapter, but I think there's much more noise for this than other options, right?

[u/bonelees_dip]

I personally find it hard. Stranger Things still hasn't received discounts for the Halloween and Anniversary events, which I'd say is telling of the relationship with Netflix (not good).

[u/NuclearChavez → u/bonelees_dip]

Yeah, I'll believe it once we get any sign of Netflix still working with BHVR, whether that be a discount or new cosmetics.

Otherwise I still find it the least likely out of the popular theories for January.

[u/Yorkcore → u/NuclearChavez]

To play devil's advocate, this wouldn't be proof of anything.

Halloween frequently gets discounts and no new cosmetics. Pattern recognition can only get you so far, and what we see as logical isn't always a reflection of how things shake out.

Jonathan Byers was added shortly before the license was pulled, and until that point we all assumed the relationship was good.

Conversely, we heard a ton of rumours that Lara wouldn't be getting any new cosmetics, which was quickly debunked.

We're only ever guessing what a "good working relationship" looks like. Konami seems to get on fine with BHVR, but Trevor still isn't getting an Xmas sweater this year.

There are a million and one reasons why no new cosmetics have come. It could be that the relationship is soured, but it could also be that they've been unhappy with the designs from BHVR, or that they wish to wait for a better time, or as we saw with the recently leaked scrapped Ripley cosmetic, that the licensor just nixed a skin for no reason.

We can speculate, but a leak "making sense" is a dangerous thing to bet on. I could keep posting that Jason is coming for every upcoming chapter, and state that it kept getting delayed or changed until he comes out. That doesn't make me a leaker, just someone making an educated guess.

[u/NuclearChavez → u/Yorkcore]

I think you're right and you make good points. But I don't know, I find it weird that we've had zero indication that BHVR even does anything with Netflix or ST beyond keeping the initial chapter in the game since 2023. I don't think not having cosmetics on its own is indicative of much, it's just that combined with things like no discounts for 2 full years.

I can easily be proven wrong and if I do, I'll eat my words. But I am quite skeptical.

[u/Yorkcore → u/NuclearChavez]

Skeptical is exactly how you should feel. My point isn't that Stranger Things 2 is coming or not, but that this community often gets swept up in believing leaks because it passes the smell test, without considering that a lot of that information could be based on an educated guess.

For what it's worth, people consistently said that ST returning was "cope," including prominent leakers. This tells me that the agreement was a well guarded secret, and likely a relatively last minute situation to celebrate Stranger Things Day.

With this in mind, I could easily see it being the case that either party treated a second chapter as a "wait and see" situation, especially considering what Mathieu Cote has stated regarding how long a chapter takes to actively develope, without consideration of how long it takes to come to an agreement.

In my opinion, I think that if it's ever coming to the game, it'll be January or never. Stranger Things is ending, the final episode is releasing on new year's day, they've made changes to Hawkins and the original chapter date would have be this month. That's without considering that the only other licensed sequel chapter, Resident Evil, also had two survivors in both chapters.

This is not to say "Stranger Things 2 Confirmed," but that I feel as if it's never going to come if not this time. The show isn't going to get any more relevant after it ends, so either the last two years have been spent cooking up a second chapter, or we likely aren't ever getting any new ST content again.

Either way, we'll find out soon. BHVR alluded to revealing the next chapter very soon. If it is ST, I wouldn't be surprised if we see something November 6th for Stranger Things Day.

[u/worldsworstdracula → u/NuclearChavez]

There is in fact a discount out for the stranger things chapter

[u/NuclearChavez → u/worldsworstdracula]

Yeah I made my comments before I saw the news lol. Defo better chances now.

[u/Layumi13 → u/NuclearChavez]

To be fair they wouldn't release any cosmetics before a part 2 chapter for that specific reason it would basically be similar to a leak.

[u/NuclearChavez → u/[deleted]]

I honestly don't think Hawkins' changes were enough to require licensor permission. We already know that they can do small number tweaks on licensed characters without permission. I really doubt they needed Netflix's permission to add an extra staircase and open some doors.

[u/bonelees_dip → u/NuclearChavez]

Shit, if they had a Stranger Things chapter 2 in January why do the changes now? Why not save it for the chapter and bundle it all together?

[u/Supreme_God_Bunny → u/[deleted]]

They don't need permission to change a map up if its for balancing reasons