Epic managed to successfully raise $2 billion dollars from Sony and KIRKBI, parent-company of The LEGO Group, in this round of funding. Both companies invested equal amounts, which means $1 billion each, in hopes of helping Epic materialize the metaverse it keeps talking about. Not only that, but this money will also be spend on more general development of Epic’s properties to increase its value in the market. If we go back in time, Sony has actually already invested a total of $450 million USD into Epic Games over the past two years, and now that they’ve returned with a $1 billion fund this time, they must be seeing something in Epic. Sony invested $250 million in a July 2020 evaluation and then another $200 million last year in April. This funding will help strengthen the companies’ ties as they look forward towards an imminent metaverse. KIRKBI is a more interesting investor as the company has never really worked with Epic before. Just a few days ago, LEGO and Epic Games announced their partnership in which the companies will build a child-friendly version of the metaverse. So, this investment makes sense considering LEGO and Epic Games will now be working closely on this project. Like Sony, KIRKBI also invested $1 billion in this round, as mentioned before.
Building the metaverse
To be fair, we still don’t know what a metaverse really is or how it will look like. Right now, it’s nothing more than a buzzword used by Big Tech and crypto advocates to romanticize on a future version of the internet that feels much more intimately connected across the globe. Even though, we don’t have a supposed metaverse at the moment, the closest thing to its concept, is arguably Fortnite. With its massively-spanning storyline that now incorporates pretty much every major franchise from all corners of entertainment, Fortnite has become the center point for all media, it seems. From DC to Marvel, from Star Wars to Indiana Jones, from the NFL to the NBA, from Ariana Grande to Bruno Mars, everyone is in Fortnite and they’re all somehow connected to Fortnite’s over-arching story. What started out as a last-hope spinoff to save the base game, Fortnite Battle Royale has now become one of the most popular and successful games to ever exist, breaking records previously unfathomed. Fortnite also acted as a lifeline for Epic Games when nothing apart from Unreal Engine was working out for the company. Now, after this $2 billion funding, the company’s post-money equity is valued at a whopping $31.5 billion USD. Epic Games will still keep a single class of common stock outstanding and will continue to be controlled by current-CEO and founder, Tim Sweeney. Here’s what he had to say about the funding:
