Epic Games Secures $1B in Funding, Including $200M More From Sony

Epic Games, the company behind the hit game Fortnite and the engine that powers it, Unreal, has completed a $1 billion round of funding. The company said its equity valuation is now $28.7 billion.

The latest funding includes $200 million from Sony, who already invested $250 million in the company last year. Last year’s deal gave Sony a 1.4% stake in Epic, Sony said at the time.

According to a statement from Epic, the new funding “builds on the already close relationship between the two companies and reinforces their shared mission to advance the state of the art in technology, entertainment, and socially-connected online services.”

Epic’s CEO and founder Tim Sweeney, who remains the controlling shareholder of the company, added:

We are grateful to our new and existing investors who support our vision for Epic and the Metaverse. Their investment will help accelerate our work around building connected social experiences in Fortnite, Rocket League, and Fall Guys, while empowering game developers and creators with Unreal Engine, Epic Online Services, and the Epic Games Store.

Unreal is becoming increasingly central to animation and vfx production, not least via the set of techniques known as virtual production, which allow filmmakers to visualize and adjust synthetic elements throughout production.

Epic has been getting more directly involved with animation production, too. In January, it announced that it had made a grant to the production of animated feature Gilgamesh — its first known grant to a film. In February, the company unveiled Metahuman Creator, a new tool that aims to facilitate the creation and animation of convincing digital humans.

Image at top: “Fortnite”