Epic Games Gets Cash Injection
Sony has been making some big moves in the past few weeks. In early June, they revealed the sleek look of the upcoming PlayStation 5 and now they’ve made a significant investment in Epic Games. If you don’t follow gaming, you may only know Epic from their incredibly popular game Fortnite. Their importance in the digital entertainment world is much bigger than that, though.  The investment, which makes Sony a minority shareholder in Epic Games, could lead to some interesting developments in the gaming world.
How Much Money did Sony Invest?
Sony invested $250 million into Epic Games. That’s right, the creators of some of the best gaming consoles in history have dropped a quarter of a billion dollars to buy a minority share in what is arguably one of the most influential development companies in the gaming world.
Over the past couple years many smaller companies have been bought out by huge corporate behemoths. Disney has bought just about every mildly successful film brand they can get Mickey’s gloved hands on. Uber bought out Postmates and the list could go on and on. Instead of taking this route, though, Sony invested in Epic Games. At the very least, the investment bodes well for next gen gaming.
A quarter of a billion dollars sounds like a huge amount of money. In this case, it is important to note that the sum landed Sony about 1.5% of Epic Games. So, even though it seems like an insane amount of money it isn’t that much in the grand scheme of things. Sony is simply putting a healthy investment into a company that has its fingers firmly on the pulse of the future of entertainment.
Epic Games is More than Fortnite
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past two years, you’ve heard of Fortnite. The free-to-play battle royale game became a cultural phenomenon. Kids loved it, people bitched about it, and tons of merchandise was sold. That may be their most recent claim to fame, but Epic Games is a huge part of the gaming world. A quick look at their site will show you that they have a rather robust collection of games. You can even get some great PC titles for free! They’re bigger than that, though.
If you have played franchises like Splinter Cell, Unreal Tournament, Devil May Cry, Mass Effect, Borderlands, or BioShock you have Epic Games to thank for that. Even if they didn’t personally develop the games, they developed the engine on which they were built. The Unreal Engine was developed by Epic Games and they continue to offer it to other creators. The engine is currently moving into its fifth generation and is only getting better.
A Realm of Pure Speculation
At the moment it is almost impossible to know what this investment will mean to the future of Sony, Epic Games, and the future of entertainment. At the very least, the next generation of games will be a bigger more immersive escape from daily life.
Epic Games has been revolutionizing entertainment for decades. There is a reason why Fortnite continues to be a fixture in the gaming world. Over the past months, Epic has rolled out some new features and events to help entertain fans in quarantine. These events include in-game movie screenings and concert events. If you take Epic’s innovative ideas and Sony’s upcoming console into account, the possibilities seem endless. Could we see more in-game live events in the future? It’s a solid possibility. Keep in mind that Sony doesn’t just focus on games. They also have a film studio with a decent collection of titles. Epic Games’ Unreal Engine was used to film a large portion of the hit series The Mandalorian. Maybe we could see some truly interesting new films or shows with the two entertainment giants collaborating to bring fresh experiences to waiting audiences.
One thing is for certain: the next generation of gaming will give us more than just updated graphics.
