Disney Is Getting Into The Fortnite Business — Parents, Get Ready
Elsa Fortnite Royale?
On February 7th, Disney made two epic — no pun intended — announcements. One was that the world is finally getting a sequel to Moana, and that it’s coming out in 2024, no less. The other was that Disney is investing a $1.5 billion equity stake in Epic Games, the company behind the ultra-popular Fortnite and Fall Guys.
Now, Disney isn’t just trying to have part ownership in the gaming company. They’re teaming up for a specific reason — one that may be the bane of your existence, if your kid is as Fortnite-obsessed as the rest of them. The two companies plan to build an “expansive and open games and entertainment universe” in which we consumers will “play, watch, shop and engage with” our favorite characters across the Disney portfolio, per a Disney/Epic statement.
“Players, gamers and fans 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,” the statement continues.
Some of the characters that may be a part of this expansion, whatever form it may take, have already been teased: in a 45-second teaser of the team-up, images of popular characters and worlds like the Frozen crew, Avatar characters, the Millenium Falcon, Deadpool on a moped, the Cars from Cars, and even Indiana Jones himself.
It’s not as though Disney has shied away from the world of video games before. There have been multiple Star Wars video games over the past few years — Jedi Survivor and Fallen Order are two Jedi-focused video games that were commercial successes, and the Spider-Man video games, which feature Peter Parker and Miles Morales, were both hugely successful. But this is different, per Disney CEO Bob Iger.
“This marks Disney’s biggest entry ever into the world of games and offers significant opportunities for growth and expansion,” Iger said in a statement. “We can’t wait for fans to experience the Disney stories and worlds they love in groundbreaking new ways.”
But what might that look like? Will Elsa start running the Fortnite Battle Royale? Will Olaf have a snowball machine gun? Will Captain America, Deadpool, and Indiana Jones team up to save the day? Or will we get a full-on Indiana Jones video game?
You’ll just have to wait and see — but plan on it being massive: “We’re collaborating on something entirely new to build a persistent, open, and interoperable ecosystem that will bring together the Disney and Fortnite communities,” Tim Sweeney, CEO and Founder of Epic Games, said.
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