The Walt Disney Company and Epic Games will collaborate on a new universe of games and entertainment that will further expand beloved Disney stories and experiences. Disney will invest $1.5 billion to buy a stake in Epic Games with a multi-year plan. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.
In addition to being a world-class gaming experience and compatible with Fortnite, the new stable universe will offer consumers many opportunities to play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars. , Avatar and more. Players, gamers and fans can create their own stories and experiences, express their love for Disney and share content in the ways they want. All of these will be powered by the Unreal Engine.
„Our exciting new relationship with Epic Games will bring together Disney's beloved brands and franchises into a new universe of games and entertainment that transforms the wildly popular Fortnite,” said Robert A. Iger said. „This marks Disney's biggest entry into the gaming world and offers significant opportunities for growth and expansion. We can't wait for fans to experience the Disney stories and worlds they love in new ways.
„Disney was one of the first companies to believe in Fortnite's ability to bring our worlds together,” said Tim Sweeney, CEO and founder of Epic Games. „Now we're collaborating on something completely new to create a continuous, open and interoperable ecosystem that unites the Disney and Fortnite communities.”
„This will help bring together our collection of incredible stories and experiences across the company for a wider audience in ways we've only ever dreamed of,” said Josh D'Amaro, President of 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 ways that are most relevant to them.”
Deepening the Epic Games and Disney relationship
Disney and Epic Games have engaged hundreds of millions of players through Fortnite content integrations, season collaborations, in-game activities and live events including Marvel. Nexus Battle with GalactusIt attracted more than 15.3 million concurrent players.
The Unreal Engine is used to create assets and content across the Disney portfolio, including the development of video games. Kingdom Hearts 3 And Star Wars Jedi: Survivor; in cinematic editing and animation for film and streaming; and Millennium Falcon: Kidnappers Run at more than 15 Disney Parks Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.
All of this builds on Epic Games' participation in the 2017 Disney Accelerator program, which seeks to influence the future of technology and entertainment.
Growth of Games Industry & Success of Disney Games
The digital world is growing with over 3 billion video game players worldwide.
Disney's games business has continued to deliver strong results since switching to a licensing business model in 2016. Disney is a leading games licensor, working with top-quality developers and publishers, including the best-selling superhero game of all time. Marvel's Spider-Man. Disney's licensed games have received more than 150 award nominations, wins and other accolades in 2023, including several Game of the Year nominations. Marvel's Spider-Man 2. Disney mobile games have over 1.5 billion global installs, and to date, nine Disney Games franchises have each generated more than $1 billion in sales. In America, the world's largest games market, Disney's licensed titles consistently rank among the top-10 best-sellers year after year.
About the Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international entertainment and media company with three main business segments: Entertainment, Sports and Experiences. Disney is a Dow 30 company and has annual revenue of $88.9 billion in 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 contained in these communications may constitute „forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about the Company's expectations, beliefs, plans, strategies, business or financial prospects or outlook, trends, etc. future growth opportunities and drivers; future product or service offerings (including nature, timing and pricing), consumer sentiment, preferences or demand and drivers; The benefits we expect from collaborations with Epic Games and other reports that are not in nature. These statements are made based on the company's opinions and assumptions about future events and business performance and plans at the time the statements are made. The Company undertakes no 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 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 developments beyond the Company's control, the occurrence of the following events; deterioration in domestic or global economic conditions or failure of conditions to improve as expected; deterioration of competitive conditions or pressures, including competition to create or acquire content; competition for talent and competition for advertising revenue; consumer preferences and adoption of our content, offers, pricing and price increases, subscriber additions and churn accordingly and the market for advertising sales on our direct-to-consumer services and linear networks; health concerns and their impact on our businesses and products; international, political or military developments; regulatory and legal developments; Technological developments; Labor markets and operations, including strikes; adverse weather or natural disasters; and availability of content. Such developments may further affect the entertainment, travel and leisure businesses in general and may, among other things, affect (or, as applicable, further affect): our operations, business plans or profitability, including direct-to-consumer profitability; Benefits we expect from our 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 below the value we assign to the content; advertising market for programming; Income tax expense; and the performance of some or all of the Company's businesses directly or through their impact on distributors of 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 the topics “Risk Factors,” “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, and „Business,” Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, including under Topics include “Risk Factors” and “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results Operations,” and subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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