Disney has announced that it is partnering with Epic Games, having invested $1.5 billion into the studio for an equity stake. In its announcement, Disney has stated that the investment is part of a multi-year partnership to bring content from Disney’s properties to Fortnite.
As part of the partnership, Epic Games and Disney will be creating a new persistent universe based on various Disney properties ranging across its various divisions, including Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars. As part of the new project, players will be able to make their own experiences with Disney properties, all of which will be powered by Unreal Engine.
“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,” said Disney CEO Robert Iger. “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.”
“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,” said Epic Games CEO and founder Tim Sweeney. “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.”
“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,” said Disney Experiences chairman Josh D’Amaro. “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.”
Aside from the new persistent world, neither Disney nor Epic Games have released any details about further collaborations between the two companies. However, it wouldn’t be out of the question to start seeing Disney characters and environments making their way into the main battle royale game mode of Fortnite.
Fortnite itself has been no stranger to collaborations with different companies and properties, ranging from Japanese properties like Dragon Ball and Naruto, to Western properties like John Wick.
