Tag Archives: Epic Games

Sony Announced $250 Million Investment in Epic Games

Sony,

Sony Corporation and Epic Games Inc. announced that Sony has agreed to make a strategic investment of $250 million to acquire a minority interest in Epic though a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony. The investment cements an already close relationship between the two companies and reinforces the shared mission to advance the state of the art technology, entertainment, and socially-connected online services.

The investment allows Sony and Epic to broaden their collaboration across Sony’s leading portfolio of entertainment assets and technology, and Epic’s social entertainment platform and digital ecosystem to create unique experiences for consumers and creators. The closing of the investment is subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals.

Venture Beat reported that the relationship between Epic and Sony was strengthened when Epic first showed the Unreal Engine 5 graphics running on a PlayStation 5. Previous to Sony’s investment, Epic raised $1.58 billion in three previous rounds of funding. In 2012, Epic received a $330 million investment from Tencent for a 40% ownership stake.

Epic Games is the developer and publisher of Fortnite, a game that is incredibly popular. This popularity was enhanced by Ninja (Tyler Blevins) who started streaming Fortnite on Twitch, then moved to Mixer, and then moved to YouTube. Fortnite, according to Hollywood Reporter, has 350 million registered users.

So, what is Epic getting from the Sony investment? Business Insider reported that Sony’s $250 million investment puts Epic’s current valuation at just under $18 billion.

What is Sony getting from this investment? Hollywood Reporter suggests that Sony will benefit from Epic’s Unreal real-time gaming engine, which is growing in use in Hollywood animation, VFX and production communities. Unreal was used in Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian. So, the collaboration between Sony and Epic could benefit Sony Pictures.

Epic Games Reportedly Made $3 Billion in Profit in 2018

Gadgets,

Epic Games, the creator of the incredibly popular Fortnite game, has reportedly made $3 billion in profits in 2018. This number comes from unnamed sources who spoke to TechCrunch. Epic Games itself did not respond to a request for comment from TechCrunch.

Epic Games had a good year in 2018 as any company in tech. Fortnite became the world’s most popular game, growing the company’s valuation to $15 billion, but it has helped the company pile up cash, too. Epic grossed a $3 billion profit for this year fueled by the continued success of Fortnite, a source with knowledge of the business told Tech Crunch.

Personally, I’m always a bit skeptical of information that comes from anonymous or unnamed sources. However, in this specific case, I think there is good reason to believe that Epic Games made a lot of money in 2018 from Fortnite. While I haven’t played the game myself, I do find it entertaining to watch people stream it.

Forbes reported that Fortnite is free-to-play. Players can choose to purchase a seasonal Battle Pass which allows players to unlock epic loot. In addition, players can spend real world money on cosmetic items. But, no one has to spend money if they don’t want to or cannot afford to.

There is another thing about Fortnite that I believe is increasing its popularity. As Anoop Ranganath posted in an informative thread on Twitter: “Fortnite isn’t a game, it’s a place.” Kids are using Fortnite as a place to hang out and talk with their friends, much like people of my generation used to hang out in shopping malls.

Epic Games will Provide $100 Million for Fortnite Esports Tournaments

Gaming,

Epic Games is the creator of the Unreal series of games, the Unreal Engine, the Gears of War franchise, the Infinity Blade series, and Fortnite. Epic Games announced that it will provide $100,000,000 for Fortnite eSports tournament prize pools in the first year of competitive play.

The Fortnite Team posted a blog on the Fortnite website with more details.

Fortnite Competitors!

Grab your gear, drop in and start training. Since the launch of Fortnite Battle Royale we’ve watched the passion for community competition grow and can’t wait to empower you to battle with the best.

In the 2018-2019 season, Epic Games will provide $100,000,000 to fund prize pools for Fortnite competitions. We’re getting behind competitive play in a big way, but our approach will be different – we plan to be more inclusive, and focused on the joy of playing and watching the game.

The post ends by telling players to stay tuned for more details about competitive structures and eligible platforms. It appears that information will be released in the weeks ahead. Fortnite is playable on PC, Mac, Xbox, PlayStation, and iOS.

Epic Games Released $12 Million of Paragon Content for Free

Gaming

Epic Games has released $12,000,000 worth of content from Paragon, Epic’s high-end action MOBA, for free to all Unreal Engine 4 developers. These assets, built at a cost of over $12,000,000, encompass 20 triple-A characters and over 1,500 environment components from Paragon.

The content is now available free of charge in the Unreal Engine Marketplace, where developers may download Paragon packs to use in their UE4 projects. It includes 20 AAA quality characters, with their respective skins, animations, VFX and dialogue, along with over 1,500 environments from Paragon.

Available Paragon assets include:

Characters: 20 Paragon Hero characters will initially be available including all skins for distinct character variants. The release also includes base meshes, thousands of textures, VFX and animation cycles, and dialogue with hundreds of sound cues. The character Shinbi comes with an animation Blueprint which can be tailored to specific needs.

Environments: The Paragon release includes over 15,000 environment assets created for the Agora and Monolith maps, including a sample map for developers to use and customize as desired.

More to Come: Epic will release millions of dollars worth of additional Paragon asset packs beyond the $12 million offering through spring and summer of 2018.