Fortnite is so popular, even Disney wants to get in on the action.
The massive entertainment company announced today that it’s investing $1.5 billion “to acquire an equity stake” in Fortnite publisher Epic Games in an effort to create a Fortnite-style universe for its own IP.
“Our exciting new relationship with Epic Games will bring together Disney’s beloved brands and franchises with the hugely popular Fortnite in a transformational new games and entertainment universe,” said Robert A. Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company. “This marks Disney’s biggest entry ever into the world of games and offers significant opportunities for growth and expansion. We can’t wait for fans to experience the Disney stories and worlds they love in groundbreaking new ways.”
Disney said its “new, persistent universe” will offer consumers a chance to “play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar and more.”
“Disney was one of the first companies to believe in the potential of bringing their worlds together with ours in Fortnite, and they use Unreal Engine across their portfolio,” said Tim Sweeney, CEO and founder of Epic Games. “Now we’re collaborating on something entirely new to build a persistent, open and interoperable ecosystem that will bring together the Disney and Fortnite communities.”
All of this will be powered by Unreal Engine, the same Epic engine that powers Fortnite, which has already worked with Disney numerous times to include experiences like those with characters from Star Wars, Marvel, and many other Disney-owned properties.
“This will enable us to bring together our incredible collection of stories and experiences from across the company for a broad audience in ways we have only dreamed of before,” said Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Experiences. “Epic Games’ industry-leading technology and Fortnite’s open ecosystem will help us reach consumers where they are so they can engage with Disney in the ways that are most relevant to them.”
Disney touted its successes in the video game industry such as Marvel’s Spider-Man on PlayStation, the best-selling superhero game of all time, and 1.5 billion global installs of Disney games on mobile, which includes over $1 billion in sales.
This is a breaking news story with more details to follow. Updates will be added as soon as possible.
