Though it’s lost roughly $450 million on its storefront thus far, Epic Games is doing very well for itself. The company recently completed round of funding to the tune of $1 billion. Among the investment partners is Sony Group Corporation which invested $200 million, following its $250 million investment for a minority stake last year.
Epic Games stated that, “[The investment] builds on the already close relationship between the two companies and reinforces their shared mission to advance the state of the art in technology, entertainment, and socially-connected online services.”
Founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said that, “We are grateful to our new and existing investors who support our vision for Epic and the Metaverse. Their investment will help accelerate our work around building connected social experiences in Fortnite, Rocket League, and Fall Guys, while empowering game developers and creators with Unreal Engine, Epic Online Services and the Epic Games Store.” Appaloosa, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, GIC, Altimeter, Franklin Templeton, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Park West, KKR, AllianceBernstein and Luxor Capital make up the other investment partners.
Kenichiro Yoshida, Sony Group Corporation chairman, president and CEO, stated that, “Epic continues to deliver revolutionary experiences through their array of cutting edge technologies that support creators in gaming and across the digital entertainment industry. We are excited to strengthen our collaboration to bring new entertainment experiences to people around the world. I strongly believe that this aligns with our purpose to fill the world with emotion, through the power of creativity and technology.”
The relationship between Sony and Epic Games has developed significantly since the latter debuted its Unreal Engine 5 tech demo running on PS5. We’ve also seen Kratos from God of War being included in Fortnite with Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn making her debut on April 15th. PS5 players can also partake in the Aloy Cup for unlocking the Horizon Zero Dawn bundle early. As for where things could lead next, stay tuned for more details.