Rafael Henrique | Lightrocket | Getty Images
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 latest games and an entertainment universe where consumers can “play, watch, shop and have interaction with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar and more,” Disney said in a press release.
Disney didn’t say what the valuation of Epic, a non-public company, could 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 sport space ever.”
“Which I believe isn’t only timely, but a crucial step once you have a look at the demographic trends and where Gen Alpha and Gen Z and even millennials are spending their time and media,” he said.
The partnership comes after Disney had success licensing figures resembling Spider-Man for blockbuster video games, and collaborated with Epic to bring characters from Marvel, Star Wars, “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Tron” and more to Fortnite.
The deal also extends a string of major partnerships for Epic.
Fortnite has recently collaborated with Lego for a survival crafting game throughout the gaming platform much like Minecraft. It also launched Fortnite Festival, a rhythm game from Harmonix, which created the sport Rock Band.
“Disney was certainly one of the primary firms to imagine within the potential of bringing their worlds along with ours in Fortnite, and so they use Unreal Engine across their portfolio,” said Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney in a press release. “Now we’re collaborating on something entirely latest to construct a persistent, open and interoperable ecosystem that can bring together the Disney and Fortnite communities.”
Except for Fortnite, Epic Games is well-known for difficult Apple and Google in court to force them to lower their app store fees. Sweeney was personally involved in each challenges, from the planning stages to testifying in court.
He won a victory against Google, although that call is anticipated to be appealed, and mostly lost against Apple.
— CNBC’s Kif Leswing contributed to this report.
Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: