Sony and Epic Games hve announced a very important partnership, as they reveal that the former has acquired a $250 million stake in the creator of the popular Fortnite series, in what has been revealed to be a strategic investment that will benefit both parties involved.
This new partnership has been said to cement "an already close relationship" between Sony and Epic Games, and will also reinforce their "shared mission to advance the state of the art in technology, entertainment, and socially connected online services."
For those worried about this new partnership giving exclusivity to Sony, don't be. According to the information revealed, Epic Games will still be able to develop and publish their games on other platforms; Sony has only acquired a minor stake in Epic Games.
"Epic's powerful technology in areas such as graphics places them at the forefront of game engine development with Unreal Engine and other innovations. There's no better example of this than the revolutionary entertainment experience, Fortnite," reads a statement issued by President and CEO of Sony Corporation Kenichiro Yoshida.
Many will remember the reveal of the Epic Games-developed Unreal Engine 5 back in May of this year, in which we saw a demo called "Lumen in the Land of Nanite" — which, as the name appropriately suggests, shows off the new Lumen and Nanite technology used by the video game engine — running on the PlayStation 5; making players wonder why they chose Sony's platform to unveil the engine; now we know.
"Through our investment, we will explore opportunities for further collaboration with Epic to delight and bring value to consumers and the industry at large, not only in games, but also across the rapidly evolving digital entertainment landscape," stated Yoshida.
Founder and CEO of Epic Games Tim Sweeny also issued a statement on this new partnership between both companies, revealing that "Sony and Epic have both built businesses at the intersection of creativity and technology, and we share a vision of real-time 3D social experiences leading to a convergence of gaming, film, and music. Together we strive to build an even more open and accessible digital ecosystem for all consumers and content creators alike."
By the looks of it, this partnership will be beneficial for both Sony and Epic Games, without affecting neither development nor publishing of Epic Games-produced titles on other platforms. It is a win-win no matter how we look at it, and it is players the ones who'll benefit the most out of this.