Disney's big gaming bet

 Marketing and Business in the World

Introduction

    There are two main players in this arrangement. First is everyone's favorite media and entertainment conglomerate, Disney. Secondly, one of gaming's biggest companies right now and creators of the smash hit game Fortnite, Epic Games. These are the main two companies to know for this event.


Disney's old friend.

    Disney recently decided to enter the gaming space with their biggest bet in the gaming space they have ever undergone. As of February 7th, Disney has invested $1.5 Billion for a stake of Epic Games with the intention of utilizing the company's resources to assist in their future ventures into the gaming industry. However, this is not the first time that Disney and Epic Games have partnered up with some of their recent forays into Fortnite being the use of their intellectual property such as Star Wars and Marvel. 

Epic Game's founder and CEO Tim Sweeny states "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 portfolio." This goes to show their partnership has been longstanding so a large investment is not quite out of left field. 

What is Mickey Mouse up to?

    There seems to be many questions still up in the air as no one knows what percent of Epic Games Disney now owns. Since Epic Games is a private company, they opted to not share the valuation that the investment was made at. That is, no one knows what percent of Epic Games is now owned by Disney for their $1.5 billion investment.

    Sweeny went further to explain that "Now we’re collaborating on something entirely new to build a persistent, open and interoperable ecosystem that will bring together the Disney and Fortnite communities." This leaves lots up to interpretation as to what that means so only the future will tell in regards to what Disney and Epic Games, both masters of their craft, can create in due time.


Conclusion

    Overall, it is very interesting to see a mega-company like Disney dipping its toes in the water with the gaming industry which some argue is vastly overvalued currently. Clearly Disney has plans for further down the line so it is no surprise they decide to work with a partner they have a long term relationship with.


Week 3

Comments

  1. NatalieFebruary 8, 2024 at 6:44 PM

    Hi Matt! I think its pretty smart of Disney to attempt to expand into different markets, as technology advances they might try to expand into markets we dont even know exist yet

    ReplyDelete

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