In case you missed it, Sony just pumped a whopping $250 million into Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite and the popular Unreal Engine. Sony is acquiring a 1.4% stake in Epic, to be precise, which means the deal values Epic at $17.86 billion.
The move makes Sony a minority shareholder in the firm, which also had investment from Chinese tech giant Tencent back in 2012. The deal means that the pair will “work together to advance the state of the art in technology, entertainment, and socially connected online services,” but Epic's properties and technologies will thankfully continue to be present on rival platforms, including Switch. Phew.
Still, the investment means that Sony’s own portfolio will be used by Epic “create unique experiences for consumers and creators" – which could lead to some interesting developments – for PlayStation owners, at least.
[source venturebeat.com, via pushsquare.com]
Comments 29
Well that was obvious, I bet they wish they'd jumped on board a few years ago though
Epic's value is just ridiculous. I wonder when they start mingling with Apple, Amazon and Google for world domination... Throwing numbers like those around makes one feel like a pesky living thigh-high in his own feces...
Sorry had to add this: Just read Damien's bio which is displayed right next to the comment section for the very first time. "repulsively hairy belly" lol made me chuckle, because I wonder if he knows yet, that as you grow older, that repulsively hairy belly get's joined by an even grosser hairy back. Enjoy aging!
Epic just seems to have infinite cash to throw around, and that scares me.
@Scollurio Well considering they used to licence the Unreal 3 engine for about a million dollars a licence, it makes sense that their value is so high. I also love Epic now as I have a $1000 library of games they gave me for free and continue to do so. They won me over with free stuff, now they just need to make their platform better.
No wonder Fortnite is free, they already have all the money they need. Which I guess Is something positive to say about the company.
So does this also mean that PlayStation games could also arrived on the Epic Game Store in the near future? If that's the case it'll be a good investment indeed and make sense too since Sony's other exclusives like Persona 4 Golden, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Death Stranding already plan to hit PC soon.
@Scollurio No, no, you did not have to add that. 😆
So Epic (stock) is worth 17B and some change? Jeez, never knew. Now all the movie tie ins with Fortnite and stuff makes waaaaaay more sense.
Hoping for a Fortnite PSVR mode!
@retro_player_77 All of those already are set to release on EGS and Steam
Epic Store was also not going to be intrusive, so...
Sony still own a small amount of stock in Square Enix right? Unless you own a majority enough that you can influence decisions it's nbd
@sanderev Yeah I know but I hope more are coming especially some of their older games like Legend of Dragoon and the God of War games.
Nintendo purchased 10% of DeNA as a partner to develop mobile games back in 2015. That didnt stop DeNA from making non-Nintendo mobile games.
@LillianC14 Nope Sony did once own a small percentage of Squaresoft but that deal expired once Square merge with Enix.
I never really think about how huge epic games is. They have a digital store that is starting to rival steam, Fortnite makes a ridiculous amount of money, and they own and developed the unreal engine, one of the most popular and advanced 3d game engines.
I'd rather have Sony own a larger percentage than Tencent tbh
@fafonio Tencent has a 40% stake in Epic. So yeah... I've got a feeling they will completely own the entire industry in a decade from now.
@Octane exactly..... wish it was the other way around. Tencent is terrible news for gaming all around.
@Scollurio I mean you never know but they are small fry compared to apple and the big boys.
Just to put it into perspective Apple are worth about the same as Tesla, Visa, PayPal, Intel, Walmart and Disney combined!
They could buy epic to develop games solely for Apple Arcade and not even notice their difference in the bank balance!
Hello friends!! You guys may want to report the news of the Superhot sequel! The dev has said they would love to bring it to Switch once they get it polished on Steam!
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://amp.reddit.com/r/superhot/comments/eop11y/will_mind_control_delete_be_releasing_on_switch/&ved=2ahUKEwi1lLKVmcHqAhVblHIEHe6eDicQFjAJegQICRAB&usg=AOvVaw3GdI-HkCMN_fAjTQiN4D9n
It's funny that the other website didn't say the percentage.
AAAAAAAAA TENCENT AAAAAAAAA
no really tencent why I bully us
Tencent getting cozy with nintendo is most worrying. Imagine a world where video games a are pretty much solely provided by the Chinese government..... It's getting closer.
I’m shocked Microsoft didn’t get to this or made fortnite Microsoft exclusive before Sony pulled off a deal. Lost for Microsoft
@Apportal micro transactions and mass appeal
@datamonkey I'm wondering more about why there is still world hunger, why do people have to starve, why are there homeless people. It's fun how those super rich people always do charity and fundraiser when in reality probably Jeff Bezos alone could turn Africa into a bustling hub of culture and wealth with the means available locally - out of his wallet.
It always boggles my mind that in those categories whatever I earn in about 10 years is still not even pocket-change.
While I do get that it's anyone's business what to do with their own wealth, I'm cleanly on the stance that "if the world give to you (a life of unimaginable wealth) you have the obligation to give back". Stopping tax-evasion-schemes would be a start.
@Scollurio couldn’t agree more mate 👍
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