from Hacker News

Disney to take $1.5B stake in Epic Games

by sp3n on 2/7/24, 9:54 PM with 368 comments

• by gamepsys on 2/7/24, 11:15 PM

  Disney gets more IP in front of more 13-25 year olds. This is a very impressionable age group, and can create life long fans. This is a good value proposition for Disney. Epic probably gets an increase in valuation -- lifeblood for tech companies.

  Collaboration skins are massive for revenue. However, I'm concerned this relationship will force uncool collaborations with Fortnite and reduce it's appeal. Disney has had some flops recently. Long term the trick for Fortnite is to become the most sticky online videogame in history, with most games bleeding audience over time. Epic is more than just Fortnite, but I imagine this deal is entirely about Fortnite.

• by vineyardmike on 2/7/24, 10:34 PM

  Epic games has the potential to be the virtual Disney World - just available to everyone on the planet instead of those with enough money to visit a park IRL. Disney has a great flywheel where their IP drives content, toys, and experiences. This is just the latest experience, and it’s something they can’t build themselves.

  I bet you can expect more content on fortnite to be with Disney IP; skins, events, maps, everything. It’ll be a great way to promote new movies/TV shows with cross-platform events. Fortnite has already had great luck with this sort of thing, so it makes sense for Disney to want access to it. Maybe you’ll even see IRL Fortnite experiences in theme parks or a Fortnite IP based movie or TV show.

• by paxys on 2/7/24, 10:53 PM

  Will be interesting to see what % stake Disney got. Tencent currently owns 40% of Epic and Sony has another 5%. Given their last valuation of $32B it doesn't seem like Disney will end up with more than 3-4%. Still a good chunk, but not quite enough to call the shots.

• by chr-s on 2/7/24, 10:34 PM

  Disney use Unreal Engine for their dynamic greenscreen LED wall which they film The Mandalorian and others against. That's got to be at least as important as Fortnite characters.

• by jwie on 2/8/24, 11:47 AM

  This has the same pattern as the Vivendi deal with Blizzard back in 2007.

  In both instances, the game end of the deal had peaked already, and there was nowhere to go but down. Nothing a few billion dollars can’t fix, maybe some “new content,” says the business guys.

  Meanwhile their product becomes worse by the month. The magic is fading. All the people who made it great move on, not wanting to deal with the business parasites who showed up to squeeze a buck. Repeat.

• by sssilver on 2/8/24, 5:36 AM

  Every time something like this happens, it makes me really sad.

  It means more of what we experience will have to adhere to more of the same rules, patterns, and decisions.

  Uniformity is prevailing.

• by kmeisthax on 2/8/24, 3:30 AM

  Apple has a weirdly pro-Disney bias: watchOS has built-in Disney faces, on a watch where there's no custom watchface support whatsoever. And this is apparently mutual: Disney shipped a D+ visionOS app when several other streaming services (Netflix, YouTube, Spotify) were telling Apple to piss off.

  Disney investing in the company that has been the biggest thorn in Apple's side is... interesting. Obviously, the immediate motivation is "we wanna jump on the Fortnite zoomer bandwagon", but I can't help but wonder if Tim Sweeney's days are numbered here.

• by jprd on 2/7/24, 10:41 PM

  I think I'm going to need one of those Carrie Matheson / Pepe Silva full wall mind-maps to track all of this.

• by BooneJS on 2/7/24, 10:49 PM

  Disney is diversifying. This comes on the heels of their subsidiary ESPN creating a new sports streaming service with Fox and Warner/Discovery (https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/espn-fox-warner-bros-discov...)

• by gigatexal on 2/7/24, 10:46 PM

  Hilarious. A long time ally of Apple will invest in a company hell bent (and somewhat righteously so) knee capping Apple.

• by colkassad on 2/7/24, 11:06 PM

  I worked on a UT99 mod back in the day and was invited to the Raleigh office back in 2003 or so after our artist was hired by them. He still works there. Hard to believe how far the company has come.

• by bigiain on 2/7/24, 10:43 PM

  So is there a term like "acquihire" - except it means more like "we sold a stake in out company so we would get access to their legal department" instead of "we sold a stake in out company so we would get cushy jobs"?

• by rowanG077 on 2/7/24, 10:58 PM

  No please no, god no. Disney rots everything it touches and epic games is more than rotten enough as it is.

• by LarsDu88 on 2/8/24, 5:30 AM

  This is a pretty astute move.

  Unreal tech powers EVERYTHING at Disney now ever since the development of virtual production leveraging real-time rendering.

  On top of the that the Fortnite demographic is growing up and videogame based IP moves are making bank (Sonic, Mario, Last of Us).

  If the cogs are turning in Bob Iger's head, it's that videogame IPs are the next Marvel/Star Wars.

• by O1111OOO on 2/7/24, 11:23 PM

  I've come across a few articles in the last year and they all seem to agree that Sports and Gaming is where the money is because the fan base is so... passionate.

  It makes sense that on the heels of Disney's collaboration with FOX and Warner Bros. Discovery (via ESPN), they would also get into the other market with fans as committed as sports fans.

  Considering that the future of TV is streaming and being successful in this market has proven to be no slam dunk (no matter how big you are), Sports/Gaming is the hedge (for those who can swings these deals).

• by masfoobar on 2/9/24, 11:53 AM

  Not a follower of Disney. I dont care for their products or efforts on Star Wars etc.

  The first thing I could think of as to why is because they use Unreal Engine for their CGI background and effects in TV shows and (perhaps as well) movies.

  I do remember seeing BTS of one of their TV shows (likely Star Wars) with giant TV's all round the set which creates backdrops, all in Unreal.

  I will admit it is impressive but I noticed camera shots are looking limited. Start of something grander, I guess.

• by SLHamlet on 2/8/24, 12:01 AM

  It's the mass market on-ramp the Metaverse needs.

  https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2024/02/disney-epic-interoperable-...

  Roblox should start sweating. Then again, so should anyone who's created Disney-themed fan content on Rec Room, VRChat, etc.

• by j2bax on 2/7/24, 10:36 PM

  I wonder if Apple has any regrets about its battle with Epic... Seems like they could have been a great launch partner for the Vision Pro...

• by sharken on 2/8/24, 7:13 AM

  Admittedly old news, but Disney is now joining Lego and Sony with regards to investments in Epic Games.

  https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/sony-and-kirkbi-in...

• by joshspankit on 2/8/24, 4:12 AM

  Please no. Epic is one of the companies that needs to remain autonomous for the sake of technology and those who enjoy it.

• by bangonkeyboard on 2/7/24, 10:54 PM

  What's surprising to me is that this deal is apparently about content and IP, not the Unreal Engine technology per se.

• by sebastianconcpt on 2/8/24, 1:06 PM

  It's going to go in one direction. Down.

  Also monocrhomaticaly violet and with mandatory genderconfusionist characters.

• by schappim on 2/8/24, 1:17 AM

  Disney investing $1.5 billion in Epic signals that Disney thinks it can repair the Epic-Apple relationship.

• by Animats on 2/7/24, 10:31 PM

  Wow! What will Disney do to Unreal Engine's pricing plan? Does Sweeney remain in charge?

• by mminer237 on 2/7/24, 9:34 PM

  This is like a 3–4% stake then?

• by askafriend on 2/7/24, 11:15 PM

  What do we think the valuation is? Do we think it's down, flat or up?

  I'd hazard a guess at flat. Unity (a peer) got crushed by the market but they also don't have Fortnite which is a money printer and has only gotten bigger.

• by lapetitejort on 2/7/24, 11:09 PM

  Considering Square Enix's relationship with Epic, Disney's relationship with Square Enix, and now Disney's relationship with Epic, I expect Kingdom Hearts IV to be a tightly coupled collaboration.

• by Thoreandan on 2/7/24, 11:22 PM

  So... Jill of the Jungle and Eva Earlong are now officially Disney Princesses.

• by A4ET8a8uTh0 on 2/7/24, 11:28 PM

  Well now.. it is not like I need another reason to avoid Epic, but.. I am obviously not the target demographic here. I personally think, from Disney's perspective, this is not a wrong move to make.

• by okokwhatever on 2/8/24, 11:23 AM

  How does Disney funds all the failures? I cant understand it... it's like if the money never stops with some companies even losing money (or earning every year less and less). Weird.

• by honkycat on 2/8/24, 1:50 AM

  seems like a good call.

  I realize this is from a ground level but: The games getting made by the Unreal Engine today are of such high quality and graphic fidelity.

  They've really hit critical mass for the AA and AAA games, and paying the piper is looking like a smarter and smarter investment.

  Do film companies write their own editing software, or 3d pipelines, or design and build their own cameras? Some of them, sure. But most of them are purchasing and customizing off-the-shelf solutions. It just makes sense.

• by bonestamp2 on 2/8/24, 7:05 AM

  Wow. I noticed a lot of Star Wars content in Rocket League showed up today... and I thought Epic was paying Disney. I guess it's the other way around.

• by xgkickt on 2/8/24, 3:03 AM

  I imagine this would allow Disney some control over user-generated content heavily influenced by or outright infringing on their properties?

• by iancmceachern on 2/8/24, 6:12 AM

  I bet they'll combine this, their new VR treadmill thing, and their parks into a VR Epic Games experience

• by nox101 on 2/7/24, 11:38 PM

  Disney likes Apple, Epic hates Apple. Will this put a leash on Epic's push to break Apple's monopoly?

• by matt3210 on 2/8/24, 2:03 AM

  What's Fortnite? -- 35 year old man

• by thedougd on 2/8/24, 3:02 AM

  Now Epic can unpause their HQ build. It hasn’t been going anywhere since they were hit with 9 figure fines.

• by Ekaros on 2/8/24, 8:37 AM

  I didn't know that Disney was in place where they had resources to invest anywhere...

• by Eji1700 on 2/7/24, 11:47 PM

  That's probably the first thing i've heard about Epic Games that makes me think it'll still be around 5-10 years from now.

  Disney can bring a LOT of content, so long as they can actually make it half decent content and not shit the bed like they did with EA.

• by DaleNeumann on 2/8/24, 6:04 PM

  This puts Disney in the same board table with Tencent and Sony.

• by ajhurliman on 2/8/24, 4:49 AM

  Oh wow, the collaboration that exactly zero people wanted to see

• by dev1ycan on 2/8/24, 11:52 AM

  People talk a lot about tencent buying a stake in epic but they basically are hands free and let epic go down the rabit hole of fighting apple in court and getting into financial troubles because of it.

  Same thing with tencent letting Grinding gear games basically make poe 2 which is huge financial risk when they already had a succesful game that could have kept going, just for the sake of making it better for their players over time.

  Disney however? yeah, now people will actually see what unrestricted capitalism does to a company, I really hope this is mostly just aimed at the fact that Disney probably uses unreal engine and doesn't want it going down, but the cynic in me thinks that disney as a corporation will try to squeeze as much as they can out of their money.

• by wyldfire on 2/7/24, 10:57 PM

  Sounds like horizontal integration.

• by scotty79 on 2/8/24, 5:56 AM

  Will someone at some point break Disney apart or will this tumor only grow forever?

• by hnthrowaway0328 on 2/7/24, 11:59 PM

  What about Unity then?

• by barbazoo on 2/8/24, 2:08 AM

  Mega-mega corp!!!

• by paulmd on 2/8/24, 8:41 PM

  ah yes surely epic's entirely legitimate, bona-fide crusade against the indignity and injustice of walled-gardens will be enhanced by (checks notes) selling to the mouse?

• by riow on 2/8/24, 2:59 PM

  Elon is not going to like this LOL

• by slimebot80 on 2/8/24, 5:41 AM

  Well Musk will be furious

• by haunter on 2/7/24, 10:00 PM

  Epic does what Facebook couldn't. The Metaverse is real

  I bet Zuck never ever played an actual video game in his whole life https://compote.slate.com/images/760b74a3-7156-4dbe-90bd-b02...

• by desireco42 on 2/8/24, 12:52 AM

  Will they ruin whatever was good about Fortnite?