What is the Disney x Epic Games collaboration and when will it arrive?

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If you didn’t already think Disney was taking over the world, their latest announcement alongside Epic Games should terrify you.

The entertainment conglomerate spent the first full week of February dropping announcement after announcement, with updates on a variety of upcoming projects fans have been holding their breath for. From a surprise tease of Moana 2, to the legendary Eras Tour film coming to Disney Plus, and even the reveal of Percy Jackson getting a second season, you’d think Disney would have enough money in their pockets from these projects.

Disney has invested $1.5 billion for a stake in Fortnite developer Epic Games. pic.twitter.com/25ypnmfyff

But of course that wasn’t the end of the announcements, as Disney had to drop one last reveal on everyone. Except this time, it was a collaboration no one saw coming. Epic Games, the game studio responsible for Fortniteand the Gears of War series, is creating new open-world games and an “entertainment universe” with Disney. But it goes beyond just some Fortnite skins.

As detailed in our deep look into Fortnite collabs Disney has invested $1.2 billion into Epic Games, giving them an equity stake in the company. Though Epic isn’t 100% owned by Disney with this deal, it shows Disney’s desire to become more involved in the games released with Disney branding on them.

Since their main game development division Disney Interactive Studios closed its doors in 2016, Disney has typically opted to license their brands to 3rd party developers instead of making games in-house. AS such, Disney IP titles like Disney Dreamlight Valley, Lego The Incredibles, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order were all created by outside developers. The last game released to consoles that Disney had direct involvement in was Disney Illusion Island in July 2023. Before that, the last console game developed in-house was 2016’s Disney Infinity