Followers will have the ability to watch, store and play with Disney characters throughout the Fortnite recreation, in response to a press release Wednesday. The deal additionally includes new titles and a collaboration with the corporate’s theme parks.

“This marks Disney’s greatest entry ever into the world of video games and gives important alternatives for development and enlargement,” Disney Chief Government Officer Bob Iger mentioned in a launch.

Disney has had its ups and downs with video video games. In 2016, the corporate shut down a lot of its recreation operations after struggling to develop massive, profitable titles in-house. Now, Disney licenses properties to outdoors builders and publishers like Electronic Arts and Sony Group.

Disney and Epic have collaborated for years, together with by way of Disney’s Accelerator program, the place firm executives mentor smaller companies. Epic has supplied Fortnite gamers avatars primarily based on Star Wars, Marvel and Indiana Jones characters. Epic’s Unreal Engine software program has been used to develop Disney video games.

“Disney was one of many first corporations to consider within the potential of bringing their worlds along with ours in Fortnite,” Epic’s CEO, Tim Sweeney, mentioned within the assertion.

The brand new mission will span a number of years, the businesses mentioned. Epic will develop the experiences internally.

The deal follows different collaborations between Epic and large client merchandise corporations. In 2022, Kirkbi, the household holding firm that controls the Lego Group, invested $1 billion in Epic to construct on-line experiences utilizing its model. Lego Fortnite, launched final 12 months, featured characters within the blocky Lego fashion, and had as many as 2 million individuals taking part in shortly after its debut.

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