In addition to a wealth of Fortnite skins based mostly on Disney IP, it hasn’t actually been clear what the leisure firm has gotten in return for its $1.5 billion investment in Epic from 2024. That would change this November, Bloomberg reports, when Epic releases a Disney-themed extraction shooter. The sport is considered one of three Disney tasks the writer is presently engaged on, and is reportedly anticipated to be Epic’s comeback after the corporate laid off 1,000 employees in March as a result of a “downturn in Fortnite engagement.”
The sport is reportedly just like Arc Raiders, a multiplayer shooter the place gamers struggle for sources earlier than escaping by means of an extraction level, however with Disney characters preventing enemies as a substitute of post-apocalyptic survivors. Bloomberg writes that inner reviewers have fearful that the sport’s mechanics are “not very unique,” however the venture is essentially the most promising of the three Epic is creating. The second title acquired middling inner opinions, in keeping with Bloomberg, and Epic moved sources off the third venture “after studies that Disney was disillusioned by Epic’s launch timeline.”
Whereas particulars of Epic’s work for Disney are coming into focus, it is nonetheless unclear whether or not this new extraction shooter might be a standalone sport or included as a mode in Fortnite. In its efforts to promote the title as a “multiverse” and a competitor to Roblox, Epic has launched multiple games inside Fortnite over the previous couple of years with distinct mechanics. The developer introduced that it will shut down three of these titles — Rocket Racing, Ballistic and Fortnite Competition Battle Stage — as a part of its current spherical of layoffs. In keeping with present and former Epic workers Bloomberg spoke to, a number of affected workers had been additionally engaged on these unannounced Disney video games.
When it invested in Epic in 2024, Disney steered it will construct an “leisure universe” with the developer, the place gamers may “play, watch, store and interact with content material, characters and tales from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar, and extra.” Epic’s present plans sound far much less formidable than that, but when they handle to extend engagement with Fortnite and Disney’s model, which may not matter.
