Sony Corporation, parent of Sony Music Group, has acquired a minority stake in Epic Games – the creator of Fortnite and Unreal Engine. Sony has agreed to make a strategic investment of USD 250 million in Epic via a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony.
The investment allows Sony and Epic to aim to broaden their collaboration across Sony’s leading portfolio of entertainment assets and technology, and Epic’s social entertainment platform and digital ecosystem to create unique experiences for consumers and creators.
The investment solidifies an already close relationship between the two technology companies — a relationship that was recently affirmed in May, when Epic revealed Unreal Engine 5 running in real time on Sony’s next-generation console, PlayStation 5.
The deal is important for Sony because it needs allies in the upcoming console war. Later this year, Sony plans to launch the PlayStation 5 game console in competition with Microsoft’s Xbox Series X.