If it wasn't already evident, the free-to-play title Fortnite has a been a huge success for Epic Games.
In the latest news, Epic has closed a $1.25 billion investment deal with a group of private equity backers. KKR, ICONIQ Capital, Smash Ventures, aXiomatic Gaming, Vulcan Capital, Kleiner Perkins and Lightspeed Venture Partners are now the newest minority shareholders in the company. Existing partners include Tencent, Disney and Endeavor.
A KKR representative said the special group of investors were thrilled to support Epic's dedicated team and passionate community of players. Epic Founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said the new partnerships reinforced his company's position of leadership in real-time 3D technology and would accelerate the way people play, work and interact with the world. According to the Wall Street Journal, the deal values Epic Games at $15 billion, with the overall sales for the game this year expected to top $4 billion.
Sweeney originally founded Epic in 1991 in his parent's basement. Fortnite quickly became a cultural phenomenon when the battle royale mode was added during the latter development phase of the game in 2017. In 2012, 40 percent of Epic was sold to the Chinese internet company Tencent Holdings which has since led to more partnerships.
[source gamesindustry.biz, via au.ign.com]
Comments 33
All that money and yet they couldn't keep Paragons around. Such a fun game, I'm still bitter about how they trashed it.
Every time I get tempted to try Fortnite, I remember that and I get annoyed all over again.
Gamers are fickle minded, soon they will move on to something new. All these investments are going to be a waste.
I can’t wait to see Fortnite die and for all of these companies to look back on this decision.
What's Fortnite?
I hope Epic is taking notes from Ubisoft on how NOT to sell so many shares that you nearly lose your company.
@Retupmocnin Epic still has the Unreal which it gets royalties off of, but that's not what these companies are investing in. They see tons of profits from a short term, they'll want a piece of the pie without considering how long it will last. Fortnite is one of the better Battle Royale games, but between the fad fizzling out, and getting oversaturated (even COD is in on this) one has to wonder how much foresight these companies have for long term goals.
Unfortunately, instant gratification is the name of the game in most cases, so I'm fairly skeptical to say the least.
@Kalmaro I didn't play Paragons, but I had a blast watching videos on it. I don't even hate Fortnite, but I'd be way happier if that had been scrapped over Paragons.
@Andrew5678 It was a great game, had a lot going for it. Then PUBG happened and it got dropped for fast cash. A lot of the Paragons fans were unhappy.
Guess what these investors are expecting in return...
I've heard this story a thousand times.......and it NEVER ends well. I give it about 1-2 years before bankruptcy.
Bad move
Hopefully now they’ll have the funds to make a new Jazz Jackrabbit game!
I don't play Fortnite, but....
Why the HECK Epic release the Physical box for Switch & PS4 version WITHOUT cartridge inside but a Download code instead ?!
One word: bandwagon.
@Anti-Matter You mean the Deep Freeze bundle? That's just some in game currency and skins. They're taking advantage of the Christmas market. If you've got a Fortnite mad kid in the family it's an easy present!
I spent countless hours playing Epic games in the 90s. As others have said, sinking this much money into a passing fad is not a good idea, but I hope things turn out well for Tim Sweeney.
Can't this title just shuffle off into obscurity already?
When games like this are so lucrative, I can understand investors getting behind the idea. It's great fun for many players too.
However, I've been really pleased to see the success of recent single-player games, even if they are on other systems. If ever we were to end up with only online shooters, that would be a sad day indeed.
RDR2 doesn't look like my thing, but Spider-Man and Tomb Raider are on my list to buy eventually.
As usually, the first 10 people to comment complain about a game that they haven't played.
Dog
I'd like to address the balance if I may. I am 35 years old, married and have a baby boy on the way. When Fortnite launched I tried it out and quite liked it. A new Season was inbound so I decided to wait, buy a Battle Pass and commit to the game for Season 5. I played for a short while every morning after taking the dog out and played on my days off. I did every daily and weekly challenge. I unlocked every item and completed the Battle Pass 100%. I played for just over 105 hours in a few months. I absolutely loved every second of my time with the game too! It's rewarding and respectful of your time. There is always something to do and something to aim for. Every drop in is exciting. Above all I found it to be tremendous fun! I have moved on to the new Monster Hunter now (series fan) but will always have very fond memories of my time playing Fortnite
Wow that's a lot of money. Kinda scary actually.
@Anti-Matter No bundle includes a physical game. That's why I didn't buy the Splatoon 2 bundle last October.
Physical Fortnite makes no sense.
@Zach I know right? It’s been so long since Jazz Jackrabbit 2 came out, yet fans are still supporting the games with custom content and multiplayer tournaments to this day.
Fortnite sure is a great succes for Epic but those investors have to realize it’s probably temporary. You can see this by the frequency Epic is updating the game, they’re scared of the day interest rates drop and want to prolong it as far as possible.
I just cn't bring my self to throw money at an online only game.
When Epic finally stops supporting Fortnite, can they repeat the success with another game? They had better do so if they wan't to please their share holders.
While I can't really say I care about the nitty-gritty business end of Epic Games, I have to applaud their success with Fortnite. While it's not really in my taste, Epic has been a class act with the game. Maybe some other devs/pubs could learn from their example.
@Galenmereth I forsee everyone being unhappy soon.
@Kalmaro Fortnite, with a few friends, is a ton of fun
@PLAYwithGregg I'm sure it is, but I refuse to be a part of it. I don't have anything against people enjoying the game though.
@Retupmocnin The biggest problem that Fortnite has going against it is that is isn't really gamers that have been driving it's success, but kids, and if anyone is fickle minded it is kids. There are countless cultural phenomenons that have come and gone with kids because that is the nature of kids interests. Kids aren't kids forever, they eventually grow up, have different interests, whatever they liked as kids is often deemed "lame" by them as teenagers, and the newer generation of kids who replace them have their own interests that are more often than not different.
Fortnite is most likely just yet another temporary success story because it's success is tied in heavily with a particular generation of kids. As an adult I could never get into the game, and I have read countless articles from parents who are journalists writing about how it is this online social scene for a certain age demographic of kids who make up the vast majority of it's audience. Once those kids move on to something else all of these investors will be left scratching their heads wondering why their popular video game is no longer popular.
@JayJ Yeah I do not see Fortnite being a Pokemon story, but you never know.
@WhoaManWtF I think the problem with comparing Fortnite to Pokemon is how Fortnite is an online experience while pokemon is for the most part an offline experience that went well beyond a video game. Online games are just naturally a lot more limited when it comes to their longevity, especially when it comes to being a phenomenon among kids. I mean there is a number of online games that were huge and managed to maintain popularity, but the fact is that the nature of online gaming is the type of thing where it always moves on to the next big thing. That and Pokemon has the luxury of being a first party Nintendo IP where it gets all kinds of promotion and regular sequels as premier titles on Nintendo consoles.
@ReaderRagfish
Fish
@JayJ That was well said, and I agree.
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