Disney executives are reportedly eager on absolutely shopping for Fortnite developer Epic Games in some unspecified time in the future.
The declare comes from veteran tech reporter Alex Heath, by way of The Town podcast, who mentioned that senior executives have been ready for the precise second to make a bid for the metaverse recreation, following Disney’s prior $1.5 billion funding in developer Epic Games.
Fortnite is the jewel within the crown of Epic’s portfolio — alongside its pervasive growth toolkit Unreal Engine — and a major cash spinner. However the previous yr has been rocky for the sport — one thing that led to Epic Games shedding 1,000 employees members final week, due partly to a downturn in engagement by way of 2025.
Disney, in the meantime, is already closely invested in Fortnite, with a dozens of character skins and crossovers already a part of the sport (together with Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar and Disney animated characters) and a long-awaited Disney-specific mode that is set to supply followers a spot to play, watch, create and store.
“I do know for a truth there are senior executives in Disney who need them to purchase Epic and are simply ready for that second,” Heath mentioned, “after which there are others who suppose it is a unhealthy thought. If Epic ever bought, if it ever determined to name it quits on being an unbiased firm, Disney can be probably the most pure house for it for lots of causes.”
Right here, Heath referenced the upcoming Disney mode — idea artwork for which appears to be like like a digital Disneyland park with numerous themed areas — and the concept it simply grew to become “Disney’s gaming platform.” Regardless of two years of growth work, nonetheless, there’s nonetheless no suggestion of when it’ll lastly arrive.
Final yr, Sweeney blasted a Wall Road Journal report that claimed growth of the mode was being hampered by sluggish decision-making at Disney, one thing he claimed was “BS.” Nonetheless, that report acknowledged that the mode — introduced again in March 2024 — wouldn’t be prepared earlier than this fall, one thing which is predicted to be borne out by actuality.
“Epic is a founder-controlled firm,” Heath continued. “Tim Sweeney has full voting inventory management and may make unilateral choices and it is actually as much as him. As we noticed, he was the man who went to bat in opposition to the App Shops, in opposition to Apple and Google to open these up. And it is nearly an ideological campaign while you’re operating an organization like Epic to do one thing like that. And he even acknowledges within the layoff e-mail that it value [Epic].”
One Disney government who strongly backed the corporate’s funding in Fortnite was Josh D’Amaro — the identical one that lately received the race to turn into the corporate’s new CEO. Whereas his tenure has solely simply begun, it is believed that D’Amaro will need to rapidly make his mark within the position this yr — and he has beforehand remarked that the launch of Fortnite’s Disney mode shall be a significant second for the corporate going ahead.
Simply this week, former long-term Disney government Kevin Mayer mentioned he anticipated D’Amaro to make “daring steps” this yr and develop the corporate’s gaming output. “I feel Epic or another online game asset can be a fantastic addition to The Walt Disney Firm’s asset base,” Mayer advised CNBC.
Fortnite itself has typically struggled to launch different modes for its recreation that stray too removed from its core battle royale proposition. Curiosity has waned for the racing, music and LEGO modes it launched to fanfare in late 2023, and Epic has beforehand admitted that it is struggled to completely clarify to shoppers that Fortnite is greater than only a battle royale. However plans are seemingly afoot for some form of new period, as talked about by Sweeney in his e-mail on the layoffs. “We’ll be kicking off the subsequent technology of Epic with enormous launch plans in the direction of the top of the yr,” he wrote.
Asserting the layoffs final week, Sweeney mentioned Epic Games had reacted to a downturn in curiosity for Fortnite that started in 2025, although analysts advised IGN that fewer individuals taking part in the sport’s veteran battle royale was solely one in all its issues. The corporate has spent years preventing expensive authorized battles with Apple and Google, whereas bankrolling the Epic Games Retailer because it makes an attempt to rival Steam. After which there’s the explosive progress of Roblox, which Fortnite has now fallen far behind. Many followers really feel like it’s Epic Games’ personal employees which have paid the worth, whereas those that stay on the firm say they merely do not know the way Fortnite will look later this yr and past with near 1 / 4 of the corporate’s employees gone. Maybe the sport’s large new Disney providing will flip it throughout?
Tom Phillips is IGN’s Information Editor. You possibly can attain Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or discover him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social