The Epic Games logo shown on a smartphone.
Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
The creator of Fortnite Epic Games has raised $ 2 billion in funding from Sony and the Lego family in a huge deal that highlights the excitement of big business about the so-called metauniverse.
Sony will invest $ 1 billion in the company, Epic announced on Monday, while Kirkbi, the family-owned investment company behind Lego, will invest the same amount. The deal, which is subject to normal closing conditions, will value Epic at $ 31.5 billion.
The news comes hot after a partnership announced by Epic and Lego last week aimed at jointly developing a “family-friendly” meta-universe for children. Lego already has a successful line of video games based on lucrative franchises, including Disney’s Star Wars and Warner Bros. Batman.
“Part of our investment is focused on trends that we believe will affect the future world in which we and our children will live,” Soren Thorup Sorensen, Kirkbi’s chief executive, said in a statement Monday.
“This investment will accelerate our commitment to the world of digital gaming, and we are pleased to be investing in Epic Games to support their continued journey of growth, with a long-term focus on the future metaverse.”
The noise around the metaverse, a proposed network of huge virtual worlds, has taken the corporate world by storm recently. Facebook launched the trend by renaming itself Meta, and several major brands, including JPMorgan, Samsung and Nike, began experimenting with the technology.
However, companies such as Epic and Roblox have long been talking about building a metaverse.
The Epic Battle Royale Fortnite game allows up to 100 players to fight for the last one. But it also branches out into other forms of entertainment, such as hosting music concerts by artists such as Travis Scott and Marshmelo.
Meanwhile, Roblox wants to build a metaverse where millions of people can gather to play games or even work in a virtual economy fueled by Robux, its own in-app currency.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said the fresh funds would help the company “accelerate our work to build the metaverse.”
“As we rethink the future of entertainment and gaming, we need partners who share our vision. “We found this in our partnership with Sony and KIRKBI,” Sweeney said in a statement.
Although best known as the company behind Fortnite, Epic Games is a powerful hub for video games. The company has developed Unreal Engine, one of the largest platforms used to create games, and runs its own online game store, which competes with Microsoft and Valve.
The company is at the center of a heated dispute between app developers and Apple over fees for the latter’s App Store. Last year, a judge ruled that Apple could no longer stop developers from directing consumers away from Apple’s own payment system. The tech giant typically reduces 15% to 30% of all in-app purchases.