For months now, rumors have been circulating that Disney has been considering a buyout of Epic Games, the massive publisher and developer now known primarily for Fortnite. While there’s never been much to substantiate those rumors, Disney has now directly addressed them, saying it’s not in the cards right now.
Speaking at Bloomberg’s Screentime event, Disney executive Dana Walden commented on the rumors, saying, “Those are not the conversations we’re having right now. But we have a great relationship.” Walden did remind those attending that Disney has already invested $1.5 billion in Epic for an equity stake.
An acquisition has never felt out of the realm of possibility, especially for a gargantuan mega-company like Disney that could essentially buy whatever it wants. But instead, the partnership seems to be the focus right now, creating “transformational” games. Walden says, “We have a great partnership and a number of launches coming up in the next two years that are going to demonstrate the value of this partnership.”
Back in February 2024, Disney announced a massive collaboration to create an “Entertainment Universe” connected to Fortnite. A mock-up shown in a trailer even displayed a sort of theme-park–like series of islands with Disney proper, Pixar, Marvel, ESPN, and more.
We’ve seen massive collaborations with Marvel and Star Wars in Fortnite, and the game has even collaborated with Disneyland. Of course, over the years, countless Disney properties have had collaborations, including Pirates of the Caribbean, The Incredibles, Avatar, Hercules, Toy Story, Kingdom Hearts, and more.
The biggest announced collaboration is a major tie-in with Avengers: Doomsday, coming to Fortnite with the start of Chapter 8.
