A new report from TheWrap says that the Disney partnership with Epic Games is moving forward, despite massive layoffs at Epic. Earlier this week, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney announced that more than 1,000 employees would be laid off, and that Epic would pursue more than $500 million in cost-cutting to stabilize the company. There was no direct mention of the $1.5 billion Disney partnership, but now, it seems like everything is full steam ahead.
Disney, Epic Games Partnership Unaffected by Massive Layoffs
In a February 2024 statement, Disney announced a $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games. The partnership would see The Walt Disney Company and Epic Games collaborate on an all-new games and entertainment universe that will further expand the reach of beloved Disney stories and experiences.
In addition to being a world-class games experience and interoperating with Fortnite, the new persistent universe will offer a multitude of opportunities for consumers to play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar and more. Players, gamers and fans will be able to create their own stories and experiences, express their fandom in a distinctly Disney way, and share content with each other in ways that they love.
With last week’s announcement of widespread layoffs within Epic Games, there was some question of how the layoffs and $500 million of cost-cutting would impact the deal with Disney. New reporting quotes Epic Games president Adam Sussman as saying that Epic is “committed to building a games and entertainment universe with Disney”, and that “the vision is unchanged, and we are excited by our progress”.
In fact, we can turn to newly minted Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro’s comments in the recent Annual Meeting of Shareholders to suggest that the progress being made is impressive. While the pre-recorded comments from D’Amaro were made before the Epic Games layoff announcement, you would hope that Disney is privy to the health of Epic Games.
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