Did Sony buy Epic Games? Minority stake in Fortnite Developers by Sony explained

Sony has invested $250 million in exchange for a mirity stake in Fortnite's developer company Epic Games. This deal reportedly translates to Sony acquiring 1.4 per cent interest in game developer studio, taking Epic Games' valuation up to $17.86 billion. Fortnite game developer studio has reportedly mand to raise up to $1.83 billion to date in 2020. 

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Sony buys mirity stake in Epic Games

CEOs of Epic and Sony released a joint press statement that read that both companies have built ir respective businesses at intersection of techlogy and creativity. Both entities share a vision of real-time 3D social experiences which can bring about a transformative change in medium of music, gaming and films. Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic wrote that toger, y and Sony are striving to build and open and accessible digital ecosystem which benefits both consumers and content creators. 

Im courtesy - Gematsu on Twitter

This deal does t mean that Epic Games will w only be available on Sony consoles. studio will be allowed to publish to any or platform y wish to, as confirmed by Epic to a news portal in USA. To unversed, Sony and Epic have worked closely for years. Sweeney, CEO of Epic has described Sony's latest gaming console PlayStation5 to be a remarkably balanced device. Epic had used latest generation of Sony consoles to showcase updated version of ir gaming engine, Unreal Engine 5, back in May 2020. 

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Epic was also prominent in bringing cross-play multiplayer games on Sony's gaming platform, enabling it for Fortnite back in 2018. Earlier, players could play on Nintendo Switch and Xbox One with each or and access ir respective progress and skins across consoles. But, Sony had blocked cross-play on PS4. Since n, Sony has allowed cross-play on ir platform for many Epic Games titles including Fortnite. 

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On or hand, Epic also has an important investor in Tencent. y made an investment of $330 million back in 2012 to acquire 40 per cent stake in company. Since n, Epic's valuation has grown drastically, fuelled massively by success of Fortnite. 

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