Disney is investing $1.5 billion for a stake in Epic Games, CEO Bob Iger said Wednesday, in its biggest bet yet on the gaming space.
The media giant will work with the Fortnite studio to create new games and an entertainment universe where consumers can “play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar and more,” Disney said in a press release.
Disney did not say what the valuation of Epic, a private company, would be after the media company’s funding.
In an interview with CNBC’s Julia Boorstin, Iger called the investment “probably our biggest foray into the game space ever.”
Integrating Disney's massively popular worlds and characters into Fortnite's metaverse extends the company's already dominant footprint across film, theme parks, merchandise, and more into gaming too. This deal essentially funnels Disney’s ubiquitous content into yet another major platform, allowing it to reshape gaming like it already has with movies and entertainment.
Therein lies the risk. Disney is already a cultural force to be reckoned with. Adding its universes into Fortnite gives it access to hundreds of millions of young gamers, potentially allowing Disney to influence gaming content and direction. With Disney’s resources and loyalty, they will inevitably and purposefully overpower smaller indie studios and make it harder for fresh, intelligent, and even regional storytelling to break through. And as a result, we are going to see less innovation in narratives, art, and gameplay mechanics.
This type of cultural creep from major corporations is nothing new, but Disney has a particularly disturbing history of accelerated, amplified control across the mediums they enter. Each new property they acquire seems to permeate culture instantly, from stores to amusement parks to screens around the world. Even for non-Disney fans, escaping exposure has become almost impossible. Their partnership with Epic is likely to lead gaming down a similar path.
I’m still hopeful about indie gaming and the efforts of independent developers, who have kept innovation in art direction, gameplay formats, and storytelling alive in recent years. Titles like GRIS, Hades, Undertale, and others prove gaming culture can still produce magical moments without billion-dollar budgets.
But Disney and Epic's ambitions cannot be ignored. With the endless resources now at their fingertips, only time will tell if indie developers can truly stand a chance — or if Disney-powered cultural homogenization will dominate yet another form of creative expression.
