Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, has secured $2 billion in funding from Sony and the Lego family, in a significant transaction that demonstrates large firms’ excitement for the so-called metaverse.
Epic said Monday that Sony will invest $1 billion in the company, with Kirkbi, the family-owned investment firm behind Lego, contributing the same amount. Epic would be valued at $31.5 billion when the purchase closes, subject to usual closing conditions.
The development follows Epic and Lego’s announcement last week of a cooperation aimed at co-developing a “family-friendly” metaverse for children. Lego already has a profitable line of video games based on popular brands like Star Wars and Batman from Warner Bros.
“A proportion of our investments is focused on trends we believe will impact the future world that we and our children will live in,” Soren Thorup Sorensen, CEO of Kirkbi, said in a statement Monday.
“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.”
The hype around the metaverse, a projected network of huge virtual worlds, has recently taken over the business world. Facebook started the trend by rebranding itself Meta, and numerous major corporations, including JPMorgan, Samsung, and Nike, have begun to test the technology.