Disney buys 5% stake in Epic Games to build ‘entertainment universe connected to Fortnite’-GameCentral-Entertainment – Metro

Disney x Epic Games – please consume our product (Picture: Epic Games)

A new ‘persistent universe’ that will ‘interoperate’ with Fortnite is being planned by Disney, that will feature Marvel Star Wars, and Avatar.

Disney has always had a strange attitude towards video games, only occasionally being directly involved and even then always losing interest very quickly, such as with their Disney Infinity franchise from the mid-2010s.

Nowadays, despite owning Lucasfilm Gaming, they just licence all their properties out for others to make games based on them, but while that’s not changing they have also invested $1.5 billion in Epic Games, in order to create an ‘expansive and open games and entertainment universe connected to Fortnite.’

There’s little real clue as to what that means but it seems to be a new metaverse which can also connect to the otherwise separate Fortnite. Basically, the Lego Fortnite concept but on an even grander scale.

According to Disney the ‘persistent universe’ will be built using Epic’s Unreal Engine and will offer a ‘multitude of opportunities for consumers to play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories’ from a variety of Disney IP’.

Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar, and Pixar are all mentioned by name, with Disney claiming that people 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.’

That begins to sound an awful lot like Roblox crossed with a real-life Disney theme park, with the trailer below giving a hint as to how it’s supposed to look.

Disney x Epic Games – Marvel isn’t new to Fortnite (Picture: Epic Games)

The tagline being ‘Play Watch Create Shop’ is so on the nose it’s almost disturbing, as you imagine the dollar signs rotating in the eye sockets of Disney execs and the words ‘IP’ and ‘content’ being muttered like holy mantras.

There’s no indication of when any of this is going to be ready for the public to enjoy but the trailer says ‘soon(ish)’, whatever that means.

Disney’s investment is about 5% of Epic Games’ $35 billion net worth, so this is a serious investment, not just a vague announcement that’s never going to come to anything.

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If you’re wondering why Epic is suddenly making all these major branding deals it’s because back in October things were not going well and Epic was complaining about ‘financial problems’, after having just made 870 job cuts and raising the price of V-bucks.

However, the nostalgia-tinged Season OG went better than expected and just a month later Fortnite was doing better than it ever had. By that time the deals with Lego and Disney, and who knows else, would already have been made though.

It was always Epic’s plan to make Fortnite more than just a battle royale though, and with Disney’s investment it seems that’s exactly what’s happening.

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