Sony invests $250 million in Epic Games for Minority Stake - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 09 July 2020 / 2,844 Views
Sony announced it has invested $250 million in Fortnite and Unreal Engine maker, Epic Games, for a minority stake. With this latest amount of money, Epic Games has now raised $1.83 billion.
The two companies say the investment will help "broaden their collaboration" and "cements an already close relationship." Both have a shared goal to advance technology, entertainment and socially connected online services.
In May of this year Epic Games first showcased Unreal Engine 5 with a tech demo running on a PlayStation 5. It should be noted, Unreal Engine 5 will be supported on other platforms including the Xbox Series X and PC.
With Sony acquiring a minority stake in Epic Games, Epic will still be able to publish games on other platforms besides the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.
"Epic’s powerful technology in areas such as graphics places them at the forefront of game engine development with Unreal Engine and other innovations," said Kenichiro Yoshida, Chairman, President and CEO, Sony Corporation.
"There’s no better example of this than the revolutionary entertainment experience, Fortnite. Through our investment, we will explore opportunities for further collaboration with Epic to delight and bring value to consumers and the industry at large, not only in games but also across the rapidly evolving digital entertainment landscape."
Tim Sweeney, Founder and CEO of Epic Games, added, "Sony and Epic have both built businesses at the intersection of creativity and technology, and we share a vision of real-time 3D social experiences leading to a convergence of gaming, film, and music. Together we strive to build an even more open and accessible digital ecosystem for all consumers and content creators alike."
Sony plans to launch the PS5 in Holiday 2020.
Thanks VentureBeat.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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I don't know how I feel about this. Gone are the days of competition being clear cut? It seems everyone just kind of works together, buys into each other and the like. Heck, even Sony is working with Microsoft to use their server technology (instead of trying to hobble something from scratch themselves) and Microsoft owns IPs that just go everywhere (Minecraft being the biggest example). *Shrugs.
Wonder if we'll start seeing some Sony 1st party titles using Unreal.
Yupp, that is exactly what I thaught as well.
Days Gone used Unreal.
Makes sense after all the praising Epic have been giving and some Sony exclusives going to PC first on Epic Store... perhaps Sony really wants to expand their presence in PC.
Well thst should prevent Epic from only releasing games in Epic store for a while longer.
