In February 2024, Disney made an official investment of $1.5 billion in Epic Games, announcing its plan to create a massive Disney-themed world within Fortnite. Even though the media giant is now financially affiliated with the developer, it doesn’t technically own the company. Yet, the acquisition of a strategic minority stake is the initial move companies make before buying the developer outright, which is why acquisition rumors are still going around.
Disney is Potentially in Talks to Acquire Fortnite
Disney has not been successful in the gaming space. After the closure of LucasArts in 2013, Disney has not made any serious attempts at in-house game development. Instead, they have solely focused on licensing their IP.
The acquisition of Epic Games would instantly address this major weakness in the company by giving access to a world-class game engine (Unreal Engine) and a massive live service game base.
Currently, Fortnite has grown from being simply a game to a social space, a concert space, and a branded content space. This is exactly in line with Disney’s business model of IP exploitation. If Disney were to own Fortnite, it would essentially mean they own a younger version of Disney+.
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This, despite the fact that there are obvious advantages to such a deal, would prove to be a very difficult acquisition for Disney to make. This is due to the fact that Epic Games is a private firm, still under the control of Tim Sweeney, who has a long history of fighting against corporate control, going so far as to engage in huge legal battles with Apple and Google.
It is not likely that Sweeney will sell, especially not for a price less than really high, with estimates of Epic Games’ valuation sitting in a range of $25 billion to $35 billion. Such a deal would be one of the biggest acquisitions made by Disney in its history, overshadowing its acquisition of Pixar Animation Studios. Considering the fact that Disney is looking to reduce costs under its current CEO, Bob Iger, a huge acquisition is not likely in the near future.
