Disney Spent $1.5B on Epic Games and Has Nothing to Show for It After a Year
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- The collaboration project of Epic Games and Disney within Fortnite has reached a “stable” milestone, progressing through development.
- Josh D’Amaro, CEO of Disney, teased his vision for the project, describing it as a new “universe.”
- The collaboration started in February 2024, when Disney made a $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games.
One year after the initial announcement, Fortnite insider HYPEX confirmed that Disney’s collaboration with Epic Games has reached a major development milestone and has now moved into a “stable” build phase while the specifics of the project are still under wraps.
The collaboration was announced in February 2024, along with the news that Disney made a $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games.
According to a single-year-old teaser on Fortnite’s Youtube channel and Disney’s 2024 statement, the company’s partnership aims to create a new environment powered by Unreal Engine and interoperating with Fortnite where players can experience various elements of Disney’s different franchises, including Avatar, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and more.
Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro teased his vision for the project, describing it as a new “universe” for fans to interact with their favorite stories and characters in meaningful, personalized ways.
“We want to create a place where you can play games, be social, and generate your own content. A place where all our stories can come to life,” said D’Amaro.
Epic Games and Disney already have experience of content integrations in Fortnite like season collaborations, in-game activations, and live events, including the Marvel Nexus War with Galactus, which drew more than 15.3 million concurrent players.
It is worth noting Epic’s Unreal Engine has become an instrument that is vastly used to produce assets and content across the Disney portfolio, including in the development of video games like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Besides that, UE is used for cinematic editing and animation for film and streaming and the creation of more than 15 Disney Parks attractions like Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
The concept aligns with Fortnite’s evolution from a traditional battle royale game to more of a content platform, hosting user-created experiences, events, and virtual worlds like Rocket Racing, Fortnite Festival, and Lego Fortnite.
