Disney could reignite its metaverse ambitions with a “games universe” partnership with Epic Games. The House of Mouse will invest $1.5 billion for an equity stake in the Fortnite makeramid metaverse moves by Apple and other tech firms.
Today, Disney revealed a new partnership with Fortnite maker Epic Games to create the cross-franchise digital universe.
Disney and Epic Games’ Metaverse Prospects
The online world will place Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and Avatar characters in a persistent universe built using the Unreal Engine. UnrealEngine is a real-time, 3-D creation tool Disney uses in games like Kingdom Hearts 3 and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
Disney’s deal with Fortnite follows several previous integrations, like the Marvel Nexus War with Galactus. The CEO of Epic Games, Time Sweeney, said the partnership plays well to the strengths of cross-platform integration.
A previous collaboration drew over 15 million players, making the partnership’s plans more likely to attract people to virtual worlds. The deal is subject to regulatory approval. According to Disney CEO Bob Iger, the partnership is Disney’s ‘biggest entry ever’ into the world of games.
Disney reinstated CEO Bob Iger in November 2022. in April that year, Iger invested in Genies, a company that develops 3-D avatars that wear digital apparel while traveling through metaverse platforms. He attributed his investment to his interest of what happens at intersection of art and technology.
Disney’s Stock Surges Amid Metaverse Prospects
Since becoming CEO, Iger has had a massive task on his hands. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of streaming television, and company-wide cost-cutting were some of the issues Iger needed to solve. However, Disney’s stock surged when Iger announced the new deal with Epic Games and one with Taylor Swift.
But one area in which metaverse companies must tread cautiously is in complying with regulation. The Bank for International Settlements recommends that, as the metaverse and its applications grown, regulators should consider interoperability, competitiveness, consumer protection, and data privacy.
BeInCrypto reached out to Disney and Fortnite for comments but did not hear back at the time of publication.
