“Ahh-hyuck, where we droppin’ Mickey?”
After years of devaluing their various discarded video game divisions, Disney has finally decided that gaming is something they should actually focus on. To that end, they’ve recently bought a $1.5 billion stake in Epic Games, with intent to create a large, social universe within Fortnite.
The news comes from Disney’s Q1 2024 earnings call, where it was announced that this new experience would allow players 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.”
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. 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.
Bob Iger
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. 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.
Tim Sweeney
This isn’t exactly a totally-out-of-left-field move. A number of Disney’s IP’s are already featured in Fortnite, alongside plenty of others. This is, however, on a larger scale than having Spider-Man or Thanos in the game.
The details are not really known at this time. But the general idea seems to be that this new Disney area will be much like LEGO Fortnite or Rocket Racing; games that are launched from within Fortnite itself. You can already find people comparing it to the likes of Disney Infinity, which the House of Mouse shuttered not because it was a failure, but because it didn’t make enough money to justify continuing on with it.
As for what this definitely-not-a-metaverse will be like, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Source: IGN
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