Disney to invest $1.5 billion in Cary’s Epic Games, promises new ‘persistent universe’

Epic Games, the Cary-based creator of Fortnite and the popular graphics tool Unreal Engine, has agreed to an equity sale with the Walt Disney Company for $1.5 billion.

Disney is the latest big name to buy a piece of Epic, following Sony and the company behind LEGOs.

In addition to announcing Disney’s purchase Wednesday, the two companies released plans to create a “persistent universe” where users can “play, watch, shop and engage” in Disney properties like Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel.

Epic Games is one of the most valuable private companies in the North Carolina. The company was valued at $31.5 billion after Sony and the LEGO owner KIRKBI each invested $1 billion in April 2022. Neither Epic nor Disney shared what Epic’s new valuation will be following their deal, which is still subject to regulatory approval.

Popularizing a metaverse, a shared virtual space, has long been a goal of Epic CEO and cofounder Tim Sweeney.

“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,” he said in a statement following today’s announcement. “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.”

In the same statement, Disney CEO Bob Iger called the Epic Games acquisition “Disney’s biggest entry ever into the world of games.”

Sweeney founded Epic Games in 1991, and the company landed its biggest success with the 2017 release of Fortnite, a multiple-player game set in a candy-colored world that flourished into one of the most played games in the world. In November, Epic boasted a record 100 million Fortnite users worldwide.

The Epic Games partnership came as part of Disney’s earnings call, where the company said it had posted stronger-than-expected earnings for the final three months of 2023, The Associated Press reported.

In the same call, Iger announced Taylor Swift’s concert film, “The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version),” will stream on Disney+ starting March 15 and the creation of a new streaming sports service with ESPN’s channels this fall.

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