Epic Games and Sony are partnering up, as Sony Corporation has invested $250 million dollars in Epic Games, in order to secure a minority stake in the company. According to the press release, this strategic investment will allow both parties to better collaborate, in both gaming and the "digital entertainment landscape". This follows Sony and Epic showing off the new Unreal Engine 5 together during the PlayStation 5 showcase event.

“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,” said Tim Sweeney, Founder and CEO of Epic.

Source

 

[Kioku]

If this means more Sony exclusives on PC, I'm all for it. Bloodborne and Demon Souls Remaster on PC pls

Hey, if Bloodborne on PC comes from this? Great.

 

[Xzi]

Hey, if Bloodborne on PC comes from this? Great.

That's the one thing that might make this move worth it. But even then I'd probably pirate. If Bloodborne comes to PC it means Sony is dead set on finally going multiplat with the vast majority of their games anyway, so there'd still be no good reason to support Epic's garbage launcher and garbage business practices.

 

[Viri]

Fortnite will become a platform. Mark my words.

Minecraft used to be just as big as Fortnite. It's still pretty big, but it also has longevity, because, ya know, the whole building and doing anything you want. Fortnite it just a Battle Royal game, kids are going to outgrow it sooner or later. I'm sure Epic is well aware of this. They'll probably never strike gold like this ever again, once Fortnite fizzles out.

 

[MikaDubbz]

Something like this seemed inevitable. Though I'd argue that Epic seemed to be doing fine going it on their own, in many ways they were essentially mirroring Valve's trajectory to where they stand today.

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[Kioku]

That's the one thing that might make this move worth it. But even then I'd probably pirate. If Bloodborne comes to PC it means Sony is dead set on finally going multiplat with the vast majority of their games anyway, so there'd still be no good reason to support Epic's garbage launcher and garbage business practices.

Well, if it comes to steam like some of their other titles? It's a win.

 

[MikaDubbz]

Minecraft used to be just as big as Fortnite. It's still pretty big, but it also has longevity, because, ya know, the whole building and doing anything you want. Fortnite it just a Battle Royal game, kids are going to outgrow it sooner or later. I'm sure Epic is well aware of this. They'll probably never strike gold like this ever again, once Fortnite fizzles out.

I don't see Fortnite "fizzling out" any time soon, as long as Epic keeps it as a living title as they have, with new seasons and chapters arriving regularly to keep kids interested indefinitely. Fortnite has quickly proven to be in the same vein as the likes of Minecraft and Rocket League. Titles that will live on indefinitely as long as people keep playing and the devs keep supporting it.

 

[Luckkill4u]

Good move Sony! I foresee FFVIIR on PC, and every Unreal Engine game under the sun remastered on the PS5.

 

[DoggaDude]

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Epic Games and Sony are partnering up, as Sony Corporation has invested $250 million dollars in Epic Games, in order to secure a minority stake in the company. According to the press release, this strategic investment will allow both parties to better collaborate, in both gaming and the "digital entertainment landscape". This follows Sony and Epic showing off the new Unreal Engine 5 together during the PlayStation 5 showcase event.



Source

Epic.

 

[Deleted member 397813]

uhh... okay?

 

[Obveron]

Not the competitive landscape I was hoping for next gen. The appeal of Unreal Engine is that it's platform agnostic. I know this deal doesn't directly change that, but even a slight bias to any platform is bad news in my book.

 

[MarkDarkness]

Will keep on supporting Valve and GOG, thank you very much. Epic exclusives can go f* themselves. Worked out "really well" for Borderlands 3.

 

[Pipistrele]

Will keep on supporting Valve and GOG, thank you very much. Epic exclusives can go f* themselves. Worked out "really well" for Borderlands 3.

"Screw that multimillion company with shady practices, I will keep supporting the other two multimillion companies with shady practices"

 

[Quarions]

Minecraft used to be just as big as Fortnite. It's still pretty big, but it also has longevity, because, ya know, the whole building and doing anything you want. Fortnite it just a Battle Royal game, kids are going to outgrow it sooner or later. I'm sure Epic is well aware of this. They'll probably never strike gold like this ever again, once Fortnite fizzles out.

"Just a battle royal game" seems like you don’t know much about the game then...

 

[Godofcheese]

"Screw that multimillion company with shady practices, I will keep supporting the other two multimillion companies with shady practices"

List some of the shady practices

 

[Pipistrele]

List some of the shady practices

Valve was a subject of multiple anti-consumer investigations, criticized by some of the ex-employees for ruthless internal politics, and had a slew of sleazy actions well summarized in Polygon article. CDPR is infamous for overworking their employees beyond reasonable measure and being an avid and consistent defender of crunch culture, going as far as delaying their game to prolong the crunch rather than alleviate it.

Not saying you should hate Steam or GOG, just that I find the "#FuckEpic #YaySteam" loyalty kinda silly and misguided. Companies are not your friends after all.

 

[Deleted User]

If this means more Sony exclusives on PC, I'm all for it. Bloodborne and Demon Souls Remaster on PC pls

Yay, can't wait to enjoy the last jedi of us on pici.

 

[Nollog]

Is that what it costs to have the new unreal engine showcase your new console these days?

 

[Axido]

Is that what it costs to have the new unreal engine showcase your new console these days?

Exposing that you can have realistically rendered environments, but not at 4K and with lacking character models, which negates the impact of the afforementioned... Yep, totally worth every penny.

 

[leon315]

I'm really curious: how much EPIC stock in % you can get with 250 MILLION $???

EDIT: Glad to see that $ony has finally some spare money for other investments, remember back at ps3 time when $ony ended every fiscal years in red?

 

[FAST6191]

I'm really curious: how much EPIC stock in % you can get with 250 MILLION $???

EDIT: Glad to see that $ony has finally some spare money for other investments, remember back at ps3 time when $ony ended every fiscal years in red?

Was it spare money or some kind of debt and stock leveraged?

When we were watching Sony tumble down the credit ratings and even with charitable considerations (accountants will attempt to minimise profits where they can for tax and dividend purposes after all) make no money and not have the most liquid assets they still had enough longer term assets, patents/IP assets and credit lines that they could have tapped a serious line if they had wanted to.

Anyway
https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/07/09/sony-invests-in-epic-games-creators-of-fortnite.aspx
1.5% seems to be their estimate based on a projected value for Epic (they have not IPOed so we don't have too much to go on, and I have not ran whatever numbers on my end). Impressive considering 2013's grab by Tencent saw some 40% for 330 million.
Not sure what that really gives them other than possibly ensuring they don't get pushed out (I doubt that is enough for truly favourable rates so maybe more "if your system does not get Unreal, or the good Unreal, then you are in trouble"), or maybe have a side workaround for Tencent (and thus China). Epic may also be a reasonable investment (I am still not convinced Fortnite is not a flash in the pan rather than the next great service/competitive/game everybody knows a la Minecraft, Tetris or to a lesser extent COD but if it is the next great baseline game that everybody knows then yeah, plus unreal engine is good stuff for a lot of what Sony do -- films, games, TV, architecture... all use it) and Sony do have an investment division beyond that.