Epic Games and Disney revealed plans for a "Disney Universe" gaming experience related to Fortnite, following Disney's $1.5B investment in the game company. Read on to learn more about the project and Epic Games and Disney's collaboration.
Disney Invests $1.5B in Epic Games for a Multiyear Project Related to Fortnite
Disney's Biggest
Forray Into the Gaming Space
Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that the company invested a minority stake of $1.5B in Epic Games, along with the creation of a Fortnite-related "Disney universe." Iger described the venture as a timely and important step for Disney as people spend time on games "equal to or more than" how they spend their time on movies and television.
Epic and Disney will work on new games and an entertainment universe that will offer consumers avenues to "play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar and more." The multiyear project will all be powered by Unreal Engine, according to the companies' press release.
"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 Epic CEO Tim Sweeney. "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."
Epic and Disney's Continued Partnership
This isn't Disney's first foray into Fortnite as Epic and Disney have a history of successful collaborations, with Fortnite in-game content integrations, season collaborations, and live events. The Fortnite Season 4 Marvel Nexus War event update, featuring Marvel villain Galactus, drew 15.3 million concurrent players.
Last May, Epic and Disney announced a crossover collaboration with Marvel, featuring the Fortnite Spider-Man bundle that introduced heroes like Spider-Man's Miles Morales and Spider-Man 2099 as playable characters in the game.
Source:
Disney to take $1.5 billion stake in Epic Games, work with Fortnite maker on new content
Epic Games press release
The Walt Disney Company press release
