Sony Takes A Minority Stake In Epic Games

Unsplash/Nikita Kostrykin


 

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Nerds rejoice.

Sony is taking a minority stake in Epic Games worth $250M as the electronics giant looks to dive deeper into the gaming world. Still trying to make up for the PSP, I see.

The size of the stake isn’t clear but Epic, who’s iconic Fortnite game has, for lack of a better word, changed the game, over the past few years, was rumored to be raising funds at a $17B valuation in June. Fortnite had an estimated 350M players as of April, and only half of them lived in their parents’ basements before coronavirus hit.

Party mode

Sony recently called on Epic to help develop its new PS5, so the two had been “test driving the car” (if you catch my drift) before they made it official. It’s the first time since 2013 that Sony has put out a new console. Hopefully, they bring back Crash Bandicoot this time.

Epic excels at graphics and has a gaming development tool called Unreal that caught Sony’s eye. For those of us who aren’t well versed in game development (read: have had sex), Sony’s CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said that the game shows off how Epic is at the “forefront of game engine development.”

But Epic ain’t no one-trick pony. It also owns the Houseparty app which saw 50M downloads during the quarantine. It allowed users to play games seamlessly while on a video call.

The bottom line…

And Epic might be onto something by using it its interactive platform for more than slaying n00bs. The users operate their characters individually and interact with each other within the game. Of course, there are other games like that but other games don’t have live concerts mixed in. Fortnite has thrown concerts with artists like Travis Scott, Kid Cudi, and Diplo.

I mean look at this sh*t! It’s pretty wild. What a time to be alive. The more that people are isolated from each other, the more any kind of virtual interaction becomes more valuable…

Your move, EA…

Water Cooler Talking Point(s)

💧 “This is like COD meets Coachella…without the nitrous.” (Ian, The Water Coolest HQ)

 

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The Water Coolest is a daily business newsletter consisting of business news, financial advice, and unfiltered commentary. Delivered fresh in your inbox every morning so you're ready to snap necks and cash checks. Written by Tyler Morrin, AJ Glagolev, Nick Ellis, and Ian Barto.