Disney To Collaborate With Epic Games; Will Develop New Titles Based on ‘Star Wars’, Marvel, ‘Avatar’, and More
Disney has acquired a $1.5B equity stake in Epic Games that will allow them to work on new video games based on their mountains of intellectual property, including brands such as Star Wars, Avatar, Marvel, Pixar, Disney Animation, and more. The partnership will also allow them to continue to invest in further collaborations with the flagship title of Epic Games, the ever-popular Fortnite, establishing a universe of content connected to the blockbuster game.
Disney officially revealed a press release following the announcement on their quarterly earnings call that they will be taking a major step into video gaming. The proposed $1.5B investment is set to begin a multi-year partnership with Epic Games that is not too dissimilar to the one Disney signed with Electronic Arts, although it does not appear that the partnership will force developer exclusivity unlike the 10-year deal with EA did. The move has not been approved by regulatory bodies around the world as of yet, but it represents another move by the entertainment giant to tackle the video game industry. Disney CEO Bob Iger had the following to say about the ambitious announcement:
“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. We can’t wait for fans to experience the Disney stories and worlds they love in groundbreaking new ways.”
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, who alludes to Disney being the ones to open the IP floodgates for Fortnite by bringing Thanos into a popular limited-time game mode to promote Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, was also proud of the partnership:
“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.”
Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro also chipped in by saying that the partnership allows for new stories to be told involving the massive library of characters:
“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.”
The announcement was accompanied by the following video:
Disney has previously made use of Epic Games assets in their AAA titles, as the Unreal Engine has been used to power gaming hits like Kingdom Hearts III and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and their technology has helped with the development of The Volume, which has made ambitious television series like Star Wars: The Mandalorian possible, and has even helped power attractions like Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run. As it stands, this investment represents an expansion to multiple realms of media, even though video games are the immediate focus.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
