Did Disney buy Fortnite? $1.5bn Epic Games investment, explained

Fortnite continues to be one of the world’s biggest gaming platforms, and Disney’s investment in Epic Games has caused a stir. If you’re wondering what it all means, we’ve got a full breakdown of everything we know here.

Fortnite has firmly established itself as the king of collaborations, featuring crossovers with everything from movies to TV series, anime to sports stars, and everything in between—and that won’t be changing anytime soon.

The partnership with Disney opens the door for plenty more to arrive in Fortnite, and we’ve explained what it all means here.

Did Disney buy Fortnite?

No, Disney did not purchase Fortnite. However, the House of Mouse invested a whopping $1.5 billion into Fortnite’s developer, Epic Games, to have a Disney-orientated “persistent universe” created by Epic Games.

Disney’s investment gives the company a large slice of the Epic Games pie and ultimately means that when Fortnite does well, Disney will do well, too. While all the talk has orientated around Fortnite, the partnership means that future games may be developed in collaboration with Epic Games, which will likely include Unreal Engine.

The investment wasn’t solely about making money, however. Disney’s goal is to create a whole new world for gamers that won’t require a magic carpet ride to reach.

What is the Disney game in Fortnite?

The “persistent universe” will essentially be a new game, though it will exist within the Fortnite ecosystem—similar to LEGO Fortnite, which is an entirely different game mode. The Disney mode or game will work similarly, though you will be able to launch the product separately.

Full details have yet to be revealed, but The Verge reports that big decisions have already been made, including that not every character will be able to wield guns as they do in the Battle Royale modes. It seems decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.

The Incredibles have arrived in Fortnite and can carry guns, while Disney villains debut in October 2024. They join existing Disney franchises within Fortnite, which have no gun restrictions, including plenty of Marvel and Star Wars characters.

While every introduction into Fortnite so far has fit around the Battle Royale ecosphere, that will likely change when the Disney mode does arrive—so don’t expect to see Mickey Mouse wielding SMGs when you load into a Zero Build lobby.

Instead, many skins, characters, and franchises will exist independently from existing Fortnite realms, which provides plenty more options for the game—as the likes of Cars, Wall-E, and Finding Nemo, for example, are huge Disney IPs but don’t have a natural place in the Fortnite world right now.

What will change in Fortnite?

In general, nothing will change with Fortnite beyond more collaborations with Disney, which includes the likes of Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar. On top of this, following Disney’s takeover of Fox in 2019, we could see The Simpsons, Avatar, and Garfield.

What may change, however, is other partnerships and collaborations with Fortnite and other aspects of media, as Disney may not want to bring in competitors—a big example of which may be DC, Marvel’s direct rival, which has featured in Fortnite previously but hasn’t been seen in the item shop for over a year at the time of writing.

This is merely speculation at this point, however, and we’ll have to wait and see. Of course, there have already been plenty of massive collaborations within Fortnite since the Disney investment, including Fallout, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Shaquille O’Neal.