Gameplay from Mediatonic’s popular Battle Royale game Fall Guys.
Mediatonic
LONDON – Fortnite developer Epic Games has agreed to acquire Tonic Games Group, the British company behind the popular video game Fall Guys.
Fall Guys became an instant hit when it launched last summer, attracting millions of players within a month of its release. In the game, up to 60 people play as jelly beans who compete to pass a series of candy-colored obstacle courses to win crowns, in-game currency that players then use to purchase cosmetic items.
It was largely helped by a surge in video game demand during the coronavirus pandemic. The deal with Epic comes amid a slew of acquisitions in the gaming industry. Last year, Microsoft agreed to buy iconic game group Bethesda for $ 7.5 billion, while EA recently completed its $ 1.2 billion acquisition from British racing game maker Codemasters.
“It’s no secret that Epic has invested in building the metaverse and Tonic Games shares this goal,” he said Tim Sweeney, Epic’s founder and CEO, said in a statement. “As Epic works to build this virtual future, we need great creative talent who know how to build powerful games, content and experiences.”
Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Fortnite and Fall Guys are similar in that they both fall within the popular battle royale genre, which itself was made popular in the beginning by the massive success of Fortnite. Since its release in 2017, Fortnite has amassed more than 350 million players. That caught the attention of notable investors like Sony, who invested $ 250 million in Epic last year. The company was last valued at $ 17.3 billion.
At the same time, Epic is engaged in a tense legal battle with Apple over the iPhone maker’s app store policies. Epic released a version of Fortnite in the Apple App Store last year that included a method that allows users to make in-app purchases without giving Apple the usual 30% discount. Apple subsequently dropped the Fortnite app and Epic sued Apple later in the day.