In seeking to extend their reach to the one medium where their presence has been lacking, Disney has officially announced that they will not only be acquiring an equity stake in Epic Games, but that they will also be working with the Fortnite developer on a brand new “games and entertainment universe”.
The House of Mouse’s return to the video game sector was first announced by the company on the day of their Q1 2024 earnings call, February 7th.
Per a press release published to Disney’s official website, this new partnership will see the two entities “collaborate on an all-new games and entertainment universe that will further expand the reach of beloved Disney stories and experiences”.
Further, it will also see the entertainment conglomerate invest $1.5 billion in Epic Games in order “to acquire an equity stake” in the development studio.
Disney did not provide any concrete details as to what this new ‘games and entertainment universe’ will exactly entail, instead only offering a piece of marketing copy which generically claimed that “in addition to being a world-class games experience and interoperating with Fortnite, the new persistent universe will offer a multitude of opportunities for consumers to play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar and more.”
“Players, gamers and fans will be able to create their own stories and experiences, express their fandom in a distinctly Disney way, and share content with each other in ways that they love,” the company added. “This will all be powered by Unreal Engine.”
As with many such giant corporate announcements, this news also drew comment from three of the top executives involved in the deal.
Representing The Walt Disney Company, current CEO Bob Iger beamed, “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.”
“This marks Disney’s biggest entry ever into the world of games and offers significant opportunities for growth and expansion,” Iger continued. “We can’t wait for fans to experience the Disney stories and worlds they love in groundbreaking new ways.”
Likewise, Epic Games CEO and Founder Tim Sweeney asserted, “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. 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.”
Finally, current Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro excitedly declared, “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. 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.”
Notably, this new partnership is not the first time Disney has worked with Epic Games.
In 2020, the two partnered up for the Nexus War , an in-game Fortnite event (as well as a comic book miniseries of the same name) which introduced Marvel’s roster of comic book superheroes into the popular multiplayer title.
Further, Epic Games’ Unreal Engine has been used as the core game engine in a number of Disney projects, including the the Kingdom Hearts and Jedi video game franchises, as well as a post-production graphics tool on both The Mandalorian and the in-park attractions featured at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
