‘Fortnite’ creator Epic Games announces $1.25 billion in investments

“Fortnite”
creator Epic Games is setting investment
records.
“Fortnite:Battle Royale”/Epic
Games

• “Fortnite” creator Epic
  Games has announced $1.25 billion in new funding from multiple
  investors.
• The announcement marks the largest ever investment in a
  video game company, according to PitchBook.
• “
  Fortnite” is the most popular video
  game in the world, with nearly 80 million players per
  month.
• The Unreal Engine, Epic’s game
  design software suite, has been used by a variety of developers
  to create hundreds of games since 2001.

Epic Games has announced $1.25 billion in new investments, the
largest ever funding round for a video game company, according to
PitchBook.

Epic is the creator of “Fortnite,” the most popular video game in
the world, and also creates development software used by major
game studios and indie developers alike. According to a press
release from Epic, the new investors include KKR, ICONIQ Capital,
Smash Ventures, aXiomatic, Vulcan Capital, Kleiner Perkins, and
Lightspeed Venture Partners. They will join Disney, Tencent, and
Endeavor as minority stakeholders.

Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney will retain control of the
company.

“We’re excited to partner with the finest minds in the financial,
sports, and entertainment communities. This reinforces Epic’s
position of leadership in real-time 3D technology, and
accelerates our ability to improve the way people play, work, and
interact with the world,” Sweeney said in the press release.

“Fortnite” continues to see surging success, celebrating 80 million players during August
2018. The game’s popularity has led to exclusivity deals with
Samsung, licensing deals with Nerf and Hasbro,
and even made Sony change its policy for
cross-platform play.

“Fortnite” is free to play on the vast majority of gaming
platforms, but earns revenue through micro-transactions. The game
reached a monthly record of $318 million in revenue during
May 2018, and Epic has committed to developing a competitive
community for “Fortnite” with a promise to invest $100 million in
esports.

Beyond publishing major titles like “Fortnite” and “Gears of
War,” Epic Games creates game design tools for other
developers. Now in its fourth iteration, Epic’s Unreal Engine
design suites have been used to create hundreds of games since
2001.

Epic’s $1.25 billion investment round is the largest ever for a
video game company. The previous high was $550 million, raised by
Sea Limited in May 2017, according to Pitchbook data. Sea Limited
is a Singapore-based company providing an online gaming
portal for Southeast Asia.