Blog: Epic Games

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

The context behind Disney’s investment into Epic Games

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Karol Severin

15 Feb 2024

Disney announced it is investing $1.5 billion into Epic Games. The same announcement talks about a creation of an “ expansive and open games and entertainment universe connected to Fortnite ”. This move makes sense for Disney on several levels and is perhaps one of the most impactful games-related moves for Disney’s overall cultural relevance, engagement, monetisation capabilities, and profitability.

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Why Disney’s Epic Games investment challenges YouTube

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Ben Woods

9 Feb 2024

YouTube’s chief executive, Neil Mohan's, latest open letter was full of confidence . A little over a week since YouTube recorded a 16% jump in advertising revenue to $9.2 billion for Q4 2023 , he outlined four big bets to advance the business this year.

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Epic blames layoffs on low creator margins — what does that mean for the rest of entertainment?

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Tatiana Cirisano

4 Oct 2023

Content Creators

Increasingly, engaging with entertainment involves some form of creation — be it turning your life into a Wes Anderson film , making songs with Grimes’ vocals , or learning the choreography to your new favourite music video .

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Live services: Is the success of the few clouding the strategic judgement of the many?

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Perry Gresham

19 May 2023

microtransactions

EA are heavily committed to the live service model, with their earnings release for financial year ending March 2023 putting their share of games revenues from full game purchases at just 26%, meaning that 74% came from live services and other revenue sources.

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The metaverse transition: Fortnite

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Samuel Griffin

19 Jan 2023

The metaverse transition: Fortnite Unreal Engine has been at the bleeding edge of digital development since its release, being fundamental to the development of household titles such as The Witcher , Fortnite , Disney’s The Mandalorian, and HBO’s Westworld.

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Is TikTok becoming a record label? The question misses the point

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Tatiana Cirisano

18 May 2022

Music streaming

Every time TikTok does anything that seems to hedge on record label territory, someone inevitably asks the question: is TikTok turning into a record label? Cue the eye-rolls from the music industry. No one seems to want to admit how powerful a music company competitor TikTok really is — to the point where becoming a record label is not the point at all.

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Sony continues investing in Epic Games

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Karol Severin

19 Apr 2022

Sony continues investing in Epic Games Although Microsoft stole the headlines with its acquisition of Activision early this year, Sony is certainly not just standing on the side-lines. Last week, it announced a significant $1 billion investment into Epic Games.

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Unreal is evolving from a games development tool to a story-telling tool

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Karol Severin

7 Apr 2022

Unreal Engine 5

games development

Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, launched Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) this week. Despite being in works for a few years and in private Beta for most of 2021, the overall product strategy focusses on tapping into the latest consumer and creator trends.

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Labels could have helped Epic reimagine music – now Harmonix will do it instead

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Karol Severin

25 Nov 2021

Epic Games announced it is acquiring Harmonix, the maker of Rock Band. While this makes sense for the Fortnite maker and its entertainment metaverse, it has the risk of diluting the potential music expertise that labels and other music companies could (and should) offer to games partners.

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Quick take: Another blow for Epic Games as Fortnite shuts down in China

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Karol Severin

4 Nov 2021

It has not been the best year for Fortnite. Following the fiasco with its Apple lawsuit, as well as year on year consumer penetration having declined , the Fortnite maker announced that it is shutting down its Chinese version of Fortnite, Fortress Night.

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Justice is served…Initial thoughts on the Apple vs. Epic ruling

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Karol Severin

14 Sep 2021

The court ruling in the Apple vs. Epic Games case has taken media headlines by storm. However, given the diversity of narratives around the outcome, it is clear that the ‘winner’, is not exactly clear yet.

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Why we could see Epic Games gradually turn Fall Guys into free to play?

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Karol Severin

28 May 2021

Fall Guys characters are venturing out into Super Bomberman’s free-to-play new release. It is the first time a Fall Guys character crosses over to another game. It is an interesting way to market a paid game to wider audiences and raise awareness for Fall Guys – a marketing push it needs if its business model is to remain unchanged in the long term.

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Quick take: Epic doubles down on expression and creation with the acquisition of ArtStation

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Karol Severin

10 May 2021

Epic Games embarked on the journey of attracting third-party developers a while ago , but it has now made a significant step towards building up a go-to marketplace and distribution centre for designers and creators of digital art and in-game items.

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Football looks to build digital engagement through Fortnite collaboration

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Alistair Taylor

22 Jan 2021

Endeavor-owned IMG, acting as Epic Games’ licensing representative, has brokered deals with 23 football clubs to appear in the publisher’s free-to-play battle royale-style game Fortnite. Looking to capitalise on an increasingly valuable market, with diversifying revenue streams a paramount objective, sport is starting to play its way into the world of micropayments and in-app purchases, turning fandom into revenue .

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Epic Games takes on the media giants in #freefortnite fiasco

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Karol Severin

21 Aug 2020

Conflict between the gaming world and the tech giants erupted last Thursday, with Fortnite being removed from the App Store and Play Store, two lawsuits being registered, and a (niche) viral outbreak of Epic Games’ #freefortnite campaign.

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Fortnite’s Party Royale provides sports untapped avenue for reaching digital natives

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Alistair Taylor

19 Aug 2020

Universal platform

Burgeoning universal platform Fortnite’s ‘ Party Royale ’ is slowly becoming the gateway for rights holders to reach digitally native audiences. Party Royale, Fortnite’s ‘ experimenta l’ game mode has been a breakthrough for the platform ever since it was released.

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Sony buys stake in Epic Games: Small equity, large impact

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Karol Severin

13 Jul 2020

Sony has made a strategic investment of $250 million to acquire a minority stake in Epic Games. According to Venture Beat , Sony will own 1.4% of the company, valuing Epic Games at $17.86 billion. While the size of the deal does not afford Sony any direct legal control, it opens up a number of doors and is an important step in its cross-entertainment strategy.

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Endeavor, Epic Games and the Future Of Digital Entertainment Venues

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Karol Severin

15 May 2020

digital entertainement venues

Just a couple of months ago Endeavor was on its journey of building a true cross-entertainment conglomerate. Endeavor recognised a long time ago the synergies which can be achieved from cross-entertainment partnerships and bet heavily on this for its future evolution.

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Travis Scott has Only Scratched the Surface of Music Games Tie Ups

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Mark Mulligan

1 May 2020

In February 2019 Marshmello caused ripples of almost tidal proportions across the music business when 10.7 million Fortnite fans watched him perform a ‘concert’ in the game. Then in April 2020 Travis Scott followed in his shoes with his own Fortnite concert, pulling in 12 million players.

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Quick Take: Games News That Matters, but You May Have Missed Due To Coronavirus

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Karol Severin

30 Mar 2020

Google Stadia launched Stadia Maker s to get independent developers on board: If this works, it could play a pivotal role in the success of the service. Especially in the times of lockdowns and cocooning , consumers will need a wider-than-usual variety of content not to get bored and will keep loyal to services.

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