Fortnite: Sony invests $250 Million in Epic Games, Inc., acquires a “minority interest”

In a recent press release, Epic Games, Inc. and Sony Corporation announced that Sony invests $250 million to acquire a minority interest in Epic Games, the creators of the popular game Fortnite. This is in line with a well reported cooperative relationship already established between Epic and Sony.

---

Sony buys bigger say over Epic Games and Fortnite

Breaking: Sony buys $250 million stake in Fortnite creator Epic Games https://t.co/GhbD0w8BUN pic.twitter.com/Z1Qpdnnwf9

— The Verge (@verge) July 9, 2020

Sony claims this investment is in order to “broaden their collaboration across Sony’s leading portfolio of entertainment assets and technology, and Epic’s social entertainment platform and digital ecosystem to create unique experiences for consumers and creators.”

Sony’s CEO, Kenichiro Yoshida, mentioned Sony’s interest in Epic’s Unreal Engine, calling the latest iteration “innovative.” Likewise, Tim Sweeny from Epic Games said that Sony and Epic “share a vision of real-time 3D social experiences leading to a convergence of gaming, film, and music,” possibly in reference to the Fortnite: Party Royale events.

---

What will this mean for Fortnite?

Epic Games has received a $250 Million investment from Sony that gives the company a minority stake, will aim for a broader collaboration between both companies, will not impact releasing games on other platformsFortnite will never die

— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) July 9, 2020

Although early reports are keen to mention that further investment and collaboration between the companies will not affect the release of Epic Games’ content on other consoles, some fans are still cautiously nervous. Unlike other investors, such as Tencent, Sony would benefit from exclusivity agreements or favored console status with the game developer. This may mean that future Epic Games releases might be developed with Sony products in mind first, and other consoles thought of afterwards.

However, Epic and Sony’s relationship has already had the opposite effect, to some degree, with regards to Sony’s initial policy regarding Fortnite. Reportedly, it was Epic Games’ suggestion that led to Sony adopting crossplay between the PS4 version and other versions, such as Xbox and PC. Although, how much of this was out of goodwill and how much was simply due to not wanting the PS4’s lack of crossplay to be used against them is up for debate.

Players of Fortnite and other games made by Epic will likely keep a keen eye on this relationship in order to make sure this doesn’t end up hurting the fans in the end.