Disney Spends $1.5 Billion on New Fortnite Collaboration

in Disney, Entertainment

Disney announces new collaboration with Fortnite.

Credit: ITM

It’s an exciting time to be a fan of Disney and Fortnite, with the two industry icons announcing a new partnership.

Disney Fortnite
Credit: EPIC Games

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As part of The Walt Disney Company’s Q1 2024 earnings report held earlier today, Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed the company would be partnering with Epic Games for a massive new Fortnite expansion. The Walt Disney Company takes a minority stake in Epic Games with a whopping $1.5 billion investment, announcing that the world of Fortnite will change forever.

According to IGN, this collaboration will see a “multitude” of experiences open to players, ranging from new worlds to explore to new characters and stories ripped straight from Disney’s largest companies and properties, such as Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar, and many more.

With this upcoming collaboration, players will be able to “create their own stories and experiences, express their fandom in a distinctly Disney way, and share content with each other in ways that they love.”

A truck is parked on the side of a building
Credit: YouTube User @Vizion Shorts

“Our exciting new relationship with Epic Games will bring together Disney’s beloved brands and franchises with the hugely popular Fortnite in a transformational new games and entertainment universe,” stated Bob Iger. “This marks Disney’s biggest entry ever into the world of games and offers significant opportunities for growth and expansion. We can’t wait for fans to experience the Disney stories and worlds they love in groundbreaking new ways.”

The Walt Disney Company has collaborated with Fortnite many times, mostly in the form of skins. Fortnite is a free-to-play game, but it generates its record-breaking amounts of money thanks to the in-game item shop. Here, players can purchase cosmetic items such as skins, backpacks, and other items, with Disney sending over some of its most iconic characters into Fortnite’s item shop. In the past few months, players have been able to purchase various versions of Spider-Man and other Marvel characters, as well as the main cast of characters from television series such as Futurama and movies like The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).

Fortnite completely revolutionized the industry shortly after its release in 2017, providing players with a robust and inventive third-person shooter. With each new update, Fortnite’s popularity and player base grew larger, quickly becoming one of the most successful and recognizable brands in video gaming history.

In 2023, Fortnite managed to hit 44 million concurrent players, thanks to the release of the highly requested “OG” mode, a version of the game that brought back the original map, along with classic weapons and other goodies.

Are you excited? Do you play Fortnite?

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