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Sony Invests $1 Billion More Into Fortnite Studio Epic Games To Help Create The Metaverse

Sony continues to invest in the Fortnite, Unreal studio; Lego Group owner also puts $1 billion into Epic.

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Sony Group and the owners of The Lego Group are investing $2 billion into Fortnite studio Epic Games as the company continues its mission to create a metaverse.

Sony Group and KIRKBI--the holding an investment company that runs The Lego Group--are each investing $1 billion into Epic Games. This is just the latest investment from Sony, which has already invested $450 million into Epic Games over the years.

As for Lego, its investment is no surprise, either, as Epic and Lego just announced a massive deal to create new family-friendly virtual playspaces aimed at children.

Sony Group CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said, "We are thrilled to invest in Epic to deepen our relationship in the metaverse field, a space where creators and users share their time. We are also confident that Epic's expertise, including their powerful game engine, combined with Sony’s technologies, will accelerate our various efforts such as the development of new digital fan experiences in sports and our virtual production initiatives."

KIRKBI CEO Søren Thorup Sørensen added, "A proportion of our investments is focused on trends we believe will impact the future world that we and our children will live in. This investment will accelerate our engagement in the world of digital play, and we are pleased to be investing in Epic Games to support their continued growth journey, with a long-term focus toward the future metaverse."

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said Epic needs partners "who share our vision" for the "future of entertainment," and those companies include Sony and Lego.

"This investment will accelerate our work to build the metaverse and create spaces where players can have fun with friends, brands can build creative and immersive experiences and creators can build a community and thrive," Sweeney said.

With this new $2 billion investment, Epic said it's now valued at $31.5 billion. Epic founder and CEO, Sweeney, continues to control the company, which has only a single class of common stock.

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YukoAsho

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YukoAsho

While I think the whole "metaverse" is a silly concept, it's not a bad idea for Sony to invest in Epic. Aside from making sure Sweeny has more control than Tencent over Epic (very important to the gaming industry as the west's relationship with China continues to slowly curdle), it also allows Sony a spot at the table when it comes to Epic's future. Maybe more exclusive content for Fortnite?

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Pyrosa

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Edited By Pyrosa

Smart move on Sony's part.

Consider that they've already made a large chunk of this $1B just by selling $15-25 skin packs in Fortnite over the last 18mo, so reinvesting it in future cross-platform digital IP licensing is a no-brainer.

As a God of War fan, I can confirm that I have made Kratos do all of the silly dances. All of them. It was amusing every time.

...and it was absolutely worth $20 to me. I've played $60 games (regularly) where I put in less time than I have with Kratos doing Gagnam Style.

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BassMan

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Edited By BassMan

Lego's parent company is definitely the perfect partner for Epic. Epic and Lego are masters at whoring out their brands for cross promotional shit. The 'metaverse' is just a bullshit way to say that anything goes and nothing is out of place. Any excuse to make more money.

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jenovaschilld

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Edited By jenovaschilld

@BassMan: I think all of these companies that are spending .... well the GDP of small countries... to make the next metaverse, is banking on these sites to be the next digital version of the strip mall from the 70s. Yeah strip malls are out style now.... but at the time, they were the biggest economic moving factor ever, so their place in history cannot be denied.

There is palpable fear by,... that if the corporations do not start there own, then the trillion dollar mega corporations will crowd them out. I am still not exactly set that people will wholeheartedly flock into them, though everyday when you see these masses of idiots quoting conspiracy theories off of Facebook, maybe I am wrong or just out of date.

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