Apart from a wealth of Fortnite skins based mostly on Disney IP, it hasn’t actually been clear what the leisure firm has gotten in return for its $1.5 billion funding in Epic from 2024. That might change this November, Bloomberg reviews, when Epic releases a Disney-themed extraction shooter. The sport is certainly one of three Disney tasks the writer is at the moment engaged on, and is reportedly anticipated to be Epic’s comeback after the corporate laid off 1,000 workers in March as a consequence of a “downturn in Fortnite engagement.”
The sport is reportedly much like Arc Raiders, a multiplayer shooter the place gamers battle for sources earlier than escaping by an extraction level, however with Disney characters combating enemies as a substitute of post-apocalyptic survivors. Bloomberg writes that inner reviewers have frightened that the sport’s mechanics are “not very authentic,” however the challenge is essentially the most promising of the three Epic is creating. The second title acquired middling inner evaluations, in keeping with Bloomberg, and Epic moved sources off the third challenge “after reviews that Disney was disenchanted by Epic’s launch timeline.”
“This isn’t reflective of the ambitions of the Disney collaboration,” Liz Markman, Senior Director of Communications at Epic Video games, stated in an announcement. “We’re constructing a brand new video games and leisure universe of Disney experiences.”
Whereas particulars of Epic’s work for Disney are coming into focus, it is nonetheless unclear whether or not this new extraction shooter might be a standalone sport or included as a mode in Fortnite. In its efforts to promote the title as a “multiverse” and a competitor to Roblox, Epic has launched a number of video games inside Fortnite over the previous few years with distinct mechanics. The developer introduced that it might shut down three of these titles — Rocket Racing, Ballistic and Fortnite Pageant Battle Stage — as a part of its current spherical of layoffs. In response to present and former Epic workers Bloomberg spoke to, a number of affected workers had been additionally engaged on these unannounced Disney video games.
When it invested in Epic in 2024, Disney needed to construct an leisure universe, the place gamers might “play, watch, store and have interaction with content material, characters and tales from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar, and extra.” Epic’s present plans sound much less all-encompassing than that, but when they handle to extend engagement with Fortnite and Disney’s model, that may not matter.
Replace, April 10, 7:29PM ET: Added an announcement from Epic Video games.
