Stardew Valley maker Eric Barone says he's 'trying to' score a Fortnite collab and knows just who he wants in the game: Pelican Town's smoky, middle-aged bus driver Pam

In what scientists will someday call "a marketing collabo of supernatural potency," Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone has revealed that he wants to get some kind of crossover going with Fortnite. Specifically, he'd like to transplant a few of the citizens of his sedate farming sim into Epic's Omniverse, handing them a combat shotgun and letting them go ham on other people's licenced trademarks.

Barone was asked about his willingness to do a Stardew/Fortnite crossover by YouTuber Panedwards (via IGN). "I've been trying to," came Barone's reply, who particularly wants "Pam in Fortnite" but is "open to doing a collab" in general.

If you're not up to date with the latest edition of the Stardew Yellow Pages, Pam is the character who's a crusty, jaded old diner waitress in everything but, ah, her actual career. She's the Pelican Town bus driver and Penny's mother, a salt-of-the-earth working class kind of person who's seen it all and knows what it's like when times get tough. She could also, apparently, split open Solid Snake's head like a ripe watermelon at 400 metres with a reaper sniper rifle if given the chance.

Alas, it doesn't sound like Epic has gotten on board with the idea just yet. To make matters easier, Barone says it could even be another character. "It doesn't have to be Pam though" he wrote, "I would be open to anything." He's even got a few pitches: "Abigail & Sebastian could be good. Stardrop or Joja cola item? Galaxy sword or slingshot?"

But let's be honest, it's a tooled-up Pam that we all really want to see. In a statement to IGN, Barone pointed out that he's currently enjoying playing Fortnite with a few people who help him out with Stardew updates and admin. "One time we were playing and someone said 'what if there was a Pam skin in Fortnite?' And it kind of became a meme for us, like we were imagining us all playing as a squad with identical Pam skins.

"There's nothing official in the works or anything like that, but yea we would find it amusing and fun if we were able to play as Pam (or any other Stardew character, really) someday." To be honest, I reckon it's only a matter of time. Combining the dedicated fanbases of both Fortnite and Stardew is surely too juicy an opportunity for Epic to pass up.