Epic Games Just Got A Surprising Investment From Another Gaming Giant
Epic Games announced today that it has a new investor: Sony Corporation. Yes, the very same Sony that makes the PlayStation 4 and will soon be launching the PlayStation 5 has decided to make a $250 million investment in Epic Games. Specifically, Sony will be making this investment through a subsidiary company, but the name of that subsidiary wasn't revealed today.
With this investment, Sony becomes a minority interest in Epic Games, though the amount of Epic it will own wasn't revealed either. The investment, of course, is subject to regulatory approval, but neither Sony nor Epic gave a timeline for when they expect the investment to be complete.
The two companies didn't really get into specifics when they talked about what this investment means for their relationship moving forward, though both suggested that they might partner to work on creating a "digital ecosystem" that potentially bridges the gap between games and other digital media.
"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," said Tim Sweeney, Epic CEO and founder. "Together we strive to build an even more open and accessible digital ecosystem for all consumers and content creators alike."
Sony chairman, president and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida was similarly vague with him statement, first praising Epic for its advancements with the Unreal Engine and 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," Yoshida said.
At the end of the day, it isn't shocking to see Sony take a minority stake in Epic, as Sony's studios undoubtedly have a lot of experience creating games using Unreal Engine and Epic itself has developed and published a number of games for PlayStation platforms. Sweeney has had a lot of positive things to say about the upcoming PlayStation 5, and of course, with the success of Fortnite, Epic is a hard studio to ignore. Hopefully it won't be long before the two companies tell us what this partnership will bring, so stay tuned for more.