Open, persistent and social universe will bring
Disney stories and experiences to life, interoperating with
Fortnite and its more than 100 million active players and
creators
Disney to invest $1.5 billion for an equity
stake in Epic Games
The Walt Disney Company and Epic Games will collaborate on an
all-new games and entertainment universe that will further expand
the reach of beloved Disney stories and experiences. Disney will
also invest $1.5 billion to acquire an equity stake in Epic Games
alongside the multiyear project. The transaction is subject to
customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.
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(Graphic: The Walt Disney Company)
In addition to being a world-class games experience and
interoperating with Fortnite, the new persistent universe will
offer a multitude of opportunities for consumers to play, watch,
shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney,
Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar and more. Players, gamers and fans
will be able to create their own stories and experiences, express
their fandom in a distinctly Disney way, and share content with
each other in ways that they love. This will all be powered by
Unreal Engine.
“Our exciting new relationship with Epic Games will bring
together Disney’s beloved brands and franchises with the hugely
popular Fortnite in a transformational new games and entertainment
universe,” said Robert A. Iger, Chief Executive Officer, The Walt
Disney Company. “This marks Disney’s biggest entry ever into the
world of games and offers significant opportunities for growth and
expansion. We can’t wait for fans to experience the Disney stories
and worlds they love in groundbreaking new ways.”
“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,” said Tim
Sweeney, CEO and Founder, Epic Games. “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 will enable us to bring together our incredible collection
of stories and experiences from across the company for a broad
audience in ways we have only dreamed of before,” said Josh
D’Amaro, Chairman, Disney Experiences. “Epic Games’
industry-leading technology and Fortnite’s open ecosystem will help
us reach consumers where they are so they can engage with Disney in
the ways that are most relevant to them.”
Deepening the Epic Games & Disney Relationship
Disney and Epic Games have engaged hundreds of millions of
players through Fortnite content integrations, season
collaborations, in-game activations, and live events, including the
Marvel Nexus War with Galactus, which drew more than 15.3 million
concurrent players.
Unreal Engine is used to produce assets and content across the
Disney portfolio including in the development of video games like
Kingdom Hearts 3 and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor; in cinematic editing
and animation for film and streaming; and in the creation of more
than 15 Disney Parks attractions like Millennium Falcon: Smugglers
Run at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
This all builds on Epic Games’ participation in the 2017 Disney
Accelerator program, which seeks to impact the future of technology
and entertainment.
Games Industry Growth & Disney Games Success
The digital world is growing and evolving with more than 3
billion video game players worldwide who want to move safely and
seamlessly between the worlds they love, unleash their own
creativity, and experience great gameplay.
Disney’s games business continues to deliver strong results
since it shifted to a licensing business model in 2016. Disney is a
leading games licensor working with best-in-class developers and
publishers, including on the best-selling superhero game of
all-time, Marvel’s Spider-Man. Licensed games from Disney garnered
more than 150 award nominations, wins and other accolades in 2023,
including multiple Game of the Year nominations for Marvel's
Spider-Man 2. Disney mobile games have 1.5 billion global installs,
and to date, nine Disney games franchises have each grossed more
than $1 billion in sales. In the U.S., the world’s largest games
market, licensed titles from Disney regularly hit the annual top-10
best-sellers list.
About The Walt Disney
Company
The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and
affiliates, is a leading diversified international entertainment
and media enterprise that includes three core business segments:
Entertainment, Sports and Experiences. Disney is a Dow 30 company
and had annual revenues of $88.9 billion in its Fiscal Year
2023.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
The terms “Company,” “we,” and “our” are used below to refer
collectively to The Walt Disney Company and the subsidiaries
through which its various businesses are actually conducted.
Certain statements and information in this communication may
constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including
statements regarding the Company’s expectations, beliefs, plans,
strategies, business or financial prospects or outlook, trends,
future growth opportunities and drivers; future products or service
offerings (including nature, timing and pricing), consumer
sentiment, priorities or demand and drivers; our expected benefits
from the collaboration with Epic Games and other statements that
are not historical in nature. These statements are made on the
basis of the Company’s views and assumptions regarding future
events and business performance and plans as of the time the
statements are made. The Company does not undertake any obligation
to update these statements unless required by applicable laws or
regulations, and you should not place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements.
Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or
implied. Such differences may result from actions taken by the
Company, including restructuring or strategic initiatives or other
business decisions, as well as from developments beyond the
Company’s control, including: the occurrence of subsequent events;
deterioration in domestic or global economic conditions or failure
of conditions to improve as anticipated; deterioration in or
pressures from competitive conditions, including competition to
create or acquire content; competition for talent and competition
for advertising revenue; consumer preferences and acceptance of our
content, offerings, pricing model and price increases, and
corresponding subscriber additions and churn, and the market for
advertising sales on our direct-to-consumer services and linear
networks; health concerns and their impact on our businesses and
productions; international, political or military developments;
regulatory and legal developments; technological developments;
labor markets and activities, including work stoppages; adverse
weather conditions or natural disasters; and availability of
content. Such developments may further affect entertainment, travel
and leisure businesses generally and may, among other things,
affect (or further affect, as applicable): our operations, business
plans or profitability, including direct-to-consumer profitability;
our expected benefits from the collaboration with Epic Games;
demand for our products and services; performance of the Company’s
content; our ability to create or obtain desirable content at or
under the value we assign the content; the advertising market for
programming; income tax expense; and performance of some or all
Company businesses either directly or through their impact on those
who distribute our products.
Additional factors are set forth in the Company’s Annual Report
on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2023, including under
the captions “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis
of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and “Business,”
quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, including under the captions “Risk
Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations,” and subsequent filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240207879854/en/
Allison Citino Director, Communications, Games, Publishing and
Retail allison.j.citino@disney.com
Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS)
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