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:

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 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:

The announcement was accompanied by the following video:



[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf2bRcSIUsE[/embed]



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.



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