Epic Games, the creators of Fortnite and the ‘epic’ battle with Apple, have great ideas for the metaverse, and they’ve recently received a sizable sum of money to do so. The firm announced the receipt of a $2 billion round of funding, which will be used to “advance the company’s ambition to develop the metaverse and support continued expansion.”
Epic Games recently announced a collaboration with Lego to create a metaverse for children, which was followed by a fundraising round. Sony and KIRKBI are responsible for the $2 billion. Sony has already invested in Epic, and KIRKBI is a venture capital firm run by the Kirk Kristiansen family, the Lego founders. According to estimates, Sony and KIRKBI have committed $1 billion in the latest investment round.
Epic did not reveal many specifics about its metaverse plans with Lego when it first announced them, but they are working on producing a “family-friendly take on the metaverse.”
Epic Games is one of the most vocal promoters of the Metaverse
The term “metaverse” is still a bit of a misnomer, although corporations like Epic have been “one of the most vocal proponents of the concept of a networked virtual environment.” They’ve been working on it for a while now, using platforms like their hugely successful game Fortnite and the Unreal Engine game development toolset. They have recently released an app that allows users to create 3D models using real-world objects and images.
Epic’s “metaverse notion even made an appearance at last year’s Epic Games v. Apple trial,” according to The Verge, when Sweeney labeled Fortnite “a phenomenon that transcends games.” Fortnite, as a metaphor for the metaverse, is characterized by Sweeney as “a real-time, computer-powered 3D entertainment and social medium in which actual people would go into a 3D simulation together and enjoy experiences of all kinds.”
Sony, on the other hand, acquired Bungie, the creator of Destiny, earlier this year, to make its own “major push” into the virtual worlds industry. While the metaverse remains largely in its conceptual form, for now, Fortnite is probably the “closest thing we currently have to that vision through virtual events like concerts and a grab bag of pop culture tie-ins including everything from Marvel characters and professional athletes to, most recently, the late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat”
also read:
Dying Light 2 to get a new patch and New Game Plus in April
