Last week, Disney announced that it is investing $1.5 billion for an equity stake in Epic Games. The company said it was part of an effort to create an “entertainment universe connected to Fortnite.”
Apart from a trailer featuring Marvel, Pixar, Lucasfilm and ESPN intellectual properties on Fortnite islands, there’s not a lot else for now.
In the announcement, Disney said the 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.”
Disney has previously partnered with Epic to put Marvel and Star Wars skins in Fortnite. Plus Fortnite has recently tied up with another entertainment giant, Lego, for a new game mode. So, this is not new territory.
Experts believe that Disney’s latest investment will result in new game modes centred around its various IP, as Epic looks to turn Fortnite into a social metaverse platform similar to Roblox.
The $1.5 billion investment raised eyebrows as just under a year ago Disney laid off its entire metaverse division. It seems gaming is the new metaverse for some.
Leap of faith
Given Disney’s gaming experience and huge swath of IP, the size of the investment is seen as a leap of faith from such major brand on a platform and medium that’s hugely popular with young consumers.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said: “This marks Disney’s biggest entry ever into the world of games and offers significant opportunities for growth and expansion.”
On an investor call, he gave more details about the reasons behind the significant stake in Epic Games.
“When I saw Gen Z and Gen Alpha and even millennials, and I saw the amount of time they were spending in terms of their total media screen time on video games, it was stunning to me, equal to what they spend on TV and movies,” he said.
“And the conclusion I reached was we have to be there, and we have to be there as soon as we possibly can in a very compelling way.
“For us, it’s a way to have skin in the game with them with the investment of $1.5 billion, strengthen a partnership because we have skin in the game, but also build a world where we’re actually not creating too much risk for the company.”
Fortnite had 237 million average monthly players in the past 30 days and peaked at 64 million players in one day, according to ActivePlayer.io.
Gaming experts predicted that Disney could create a virtual theme park in Fortnite. “It feels right at home with what the actual Disney parks are like, interacting with your favourite characters, stepping into incredible worlds, and all of this is within your reach now, both digitally and IRL,” she said in a written statement to Campaign UK.
“With Fortnite being free-to-play across multiple platforms, there’s almost no barrier to entry.”
Fortnite is already popular among brands and has collaborated with the likes of Balenciaga, Nike and the NBA. Last month, Hilton Hotels launched the first rewards programme tied to Roblox.
The issue for advertisers is attributing their gaming investments to sales, as there are limited measurement frameworks.
