Sony, Lego, Fidelity And Now Disney: Epic Games Rakes In Over $26 Billion From Fortnite As Top Brands Continue To Flock One Of The Top Games In The World

Fortnite was released in 2017 and has since been a cultural phenomenon, consistently topping the charts for many top accolades. The game had over 10 million players during its first two weeks and reached over 125 million players by the end of 2018.  

During 2018, the game truly saw its rise to fame, receiving awards for Best Multiplayer Game, Best Ongoing Game, Best Game, Best Competitive Game and Fan Favorite Game from the likes of the Gamers' Choice Awards, The Game Awards, Golden Joystick Awards and many more.

After its initial rise to fame and firm spot as a cultural phenomenon, the company has since continued to branch out, hosting several brand and sponsorship deals. In December, the game saw a sponsorship deal with hip-hop artist Eminem, rocketing the brand to No. 1 globally by monthly active users. By several metrics, including search volume, the partnership rocketed the game close to its 2018 highs. 

Don't Miss:

• New in startups — Fortnite’s creator company greenlights partial ownership for up to 100 accredited investors in the upcoming series.
• Did you know StartEngine Private is your portal to investing in venture-backed businesses without spending millions?

The impact the game has had is undeniable, but behind the scenes is even more impressive. The company has continually launched massive brand deals with some of the biggest artists, influencers, and publishers on the planet. Fortnite has partnered with Marvel Comics, the NFL, music producer Marshmello, the John Wick film series, the TV series "Stranger Things," DC Comics Inc., Star Wars, rapper Travis Scott, the soccer video game Rocket League, "Ghostbusters," TV series Halo, video game series God of War, TV series "The Walking Dead" and dozens more. 

This has led to some players investing in Epic Games as part of these partnerships. Sony Group Corp. and The Lego Group invested $2 billion in Epic Games. Sony owns a lot of the rights to many of the brands Epic has partnered with. And Lego invested as part of an ongoing partnership with Epic Games. 

Many of their largest brand deals, like the Avengers and Star Wars, originated from The Walt Disney Co.-owned intellectual property. But Disney held out until last week when the company announced a $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games in exchange for an ongoing partnership and equity stake in the company.  

In total, Epic Games has raked in a reported $26 billion from Fortnite. Over $6 billion of that was in 2022. 

The company also owns the game development engine, Unreal Engine. In recent months, scenes built on the engine have gone viral because of hyper-realistic clips and graphics warning viewers against everything they see online. One clip, showing a burning car, went viral for the realistic nature of the flames before revealing it was built by the game engine. Other games, like Fortnite and the recent sensation Palworld, were also built on the platform.