Disney invests $1.5 billion in Epic Games to create an “expansive, open entertainment universe alongside Fortnite.” This translates into one more step towards converting Fortnite into an entertainment platform that goes far beyond video games.
Disney’s goal is to create a “persistent universe” that works alongside Fortnite and offers users new ways to play, consume audiovisual content, purchases and experiences in collaboration with the company’s major franchises. This includes intellectual properties from Disney itself, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and Avatar, among others.
The CEO of The Walt Design Company, Robert A. Iger, said in a statement that “our new relationship with Epic Games will bring together Disney’s most beloved brands with Fortnite in a universe that transforms video games and entertainment.” On the other hand, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has said that “Disney was one of the first companies to believe in the potential of bringing their worlds to Fortnite and that they use Unreal Engine in many of their projects.”
Epic Games and Disney have been collaborating for years. We have seen how the Marvel or Lucasfilm franchises, for example, came to Fortnite in the form of special events or playable characters. In addition, Disney has long used the Unreal Engine graphics engine (property of Epic Games) in many of its productions. This includes series like The Mandalorian or dozens of experiences in its amusement parks.
Some good examples of these collaborations are the Marvel Nexus War special event with Galactus, which brought together more than 15 million simultaneous players in Fortnite. Or the case of video games like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor or Kingdom Hearts 3, which were developed with Unreal Engine and are based on Disney franchises.
In March 2023, we were already pointing out a change in Fortnite’s business model: from the battle royale video game to the Roblox-style metaverse. Epic Games has been transforming its game for months into a platform where users can create and communicate, almost like a 3D and interactive social network. They recently released the LEGO Fortnite mode and it was a success.
Disney’s investment implies taking another step in this direction. A giant step, specifically. The largest entertainment company in the world investing in one of the largest video game companies (owner of one of the main graphics engines) in the world. The fusion of two giants.
Although Disney and Epic Games have already announced the agreement, it is not yet final. As usually happens in these cases, the market and competition regulatory bodies in the different regions where both companies operate must approve the purchase.
At the end of 2022, we said that Fortnite was losing popularity. At the time, the Epic Games game had about 70 million monthly users while Roblox had about 200 million. The struggle between these two great platforms has been going back and forth for a long time: they compete to be The Metaverse, that holistic entertainment platform where you can play, create, connect and consume.
It seemed like Roblox was winning the game, but, during 2023, Fortnite has done things right. Although in October Epic Games laid off 16% of its staff (830 workers). Now, with this new partnership with Disney, Roblox will have a very difficult time standing up to Fortnite. We’ll see how this all ends.