Rafael Enrique | Light rocket | fake images
disney is investing $1.5 billion in a stake in Epic Games, CEO Bob Iger said Wednesday, in its biggest bet yet in the gaming space.
The media giant will work with the Fortnite studio to create new games and an entertainment universe where consumers can “play, watch, buy and interact with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar and more “Disney said. he said in a press release.
Disney did not say what the valuation of Epic, a private company, would be after the media company's funding.
In an interview with CNBC's Julia Boorstin, Iger called the investment “probably our biggest foray into the gaming space.”
“Which I think is not only timely, but an important step when you look at demographic trends and where Generation Alpha and Generation Z and even millennials spend their time and their media,” he said.
The partnership comes after Disney found success licensing figures like Spider-Man for blockbuster video games and collaborated with Epic to bring characters from Marvel, Star Wars, “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Tron” and more to Fortnite.
The deal also expands a number of important partnerships for Epic.
Fortnite has recently collaborated with Lego for a survival crafting game within the Minecraft-like gaming platform. He also launched Fortnite Festival, a rhythm game from Harmonix, which created the game Rock Band.
“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 entire portfolio,” Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said in a statement. “Now we are collaborating on something completely new to build a persistent, open and interoperable ecosystem that will bring the Disney and Fortnite communities together.”
Aside from Fortnite, Epic Games is known for challenging Apple and Google in court to force them to reduce app store fees. Sweeney was personally involved in both challenges, from the planning stages to testifying in court.
It won a victory against Google, although that decision is expected to be appealed, and lost heavily against Apple.
—CNBC's Kif Leswing contributed to this report.
Don't miss these CNBC PRO stories:
