Disney president Dana Walden says that there are no plans to buy Epic Games, but the partnership is nonetheless expected to deliver material impact to IP awareness.
In 2024, Disney invested $1.5 billion into Epic Games. The idea was to create a gaming universe of content that would connect Disney's IP with Epic's gaming prowess. The partnership has led to a Mandalorian x Fortnite cross-over, and there are rumors of an Arc Raiders-like extraction shooter too. The cross-overs are the extent of Disney's involvement, though, and the company currently has no plans to buy Epic outright.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg Live, Disney president Dana Walden briefly talked about how the Epic deal has had a positive effect on Disney's overall business, extending from entertainment to theme parks. And there's also confirmation that Disney won't be acquiring Epic any time soon.
Below is a quick transcript of what Walden said, and it's worth a read to get an idea of how the gatekeepers of some of the biggest IP on the planet are thinking about crossovers with games creators:
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"We just had this really interesting collaboration between our games team, our experiences team, and our film studio, which was in celebration of Mandalorian and Grogu premiering on Disney+, Fortnite launched a game, Smuggler's Gambit, where one of the missions that players are sent on is one to Disneyland to ride Smuggler's Run.
"When they get there, they link identities with their Disney ID and their Fortnite ID, there's a light-touch personalization on the actual ride, then the digital rewards that you win in the ride are redeemable back in Fortnite, in that game, and it created so many impressions and so much awareness for Mandalorian and Grogu.
So, there will continue to be events that lift these libraries up forever.
Question: Have you guys talked about buying Epic Games?
Well I think that it was pretty obvious that we had very serious conversations about an investment and an equity stake...
Question: Different from buying them?
[Walden, in reference to the comment] Those are not the conversations that we're having right now, but we have a great partnership and a number of launches coming up in the next two years that are going to demonstrate the value of this partnership.
