Epic Games Raised $1 Billion To Develop Their Own Metaverse
Epic Games, the developers of Fortnite, have raised $1 billion from Sony and major funds and have reached a valuation of $28,7 billion.
A significant portion of the $1 billion in funding, namely $200 million, came from Sony Group Corporation, strengthening the relationship they forged when they previously acquired a minority stake in the developers for $250 million in July 2020.
As Epic continues to work on building the Metaverse with properties like Fortnite, Rocket League, and Fall Guys, they need all the capital they can get to realize their ambition.
Other investors in the $1 billion round include Appaloosa, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC. CEO Tim Sweeney remains the controlling shareholder of the company after the investment.
More specifically, on the metaverse front, Epic aims to create a connected social platform for its games. In March 2021 they acquired Mediatonic , developers of the 2020 hit Fall Guys.
Sony obviously wants to achieve this goal, and their CEO Kenichiro Yoshida stated in press release, that they are "excited to strengthen our cooperation to bring new entertainment."
It's worth noting that Epic Games is still legally fighting tech giants Apple following the removal of Fortnite from their app stores. Apple recently stated that game developers lost $181 million in 2019 and is projected to lose $273 million in 2020.
Today we announced a new round of funding to support future growth and our long-term vision for the Metaverse. Thank you to all our investment partners who support this work. https://t.co/QI0yszg85T
- Epic Games Newsroom (@EpicNewsroom) April 13, 2021
“We are grateful to our new and existing investors who support our vision for Epic and Metaverse,” said Sweeney. “Their investment will help accelerate our work to build connected social media across Fortnite, Rocket League and Fall Guys, and empower developers and game creators to use Unreal Engine, Epic Online Services and the Epic Games Store.”