Disney is making its biggest move yet into video games. Mouse House on February 7th and Fortnite creative Epic Games In a press release, company representatives announced plans to create new games and a universe of entertainment where consumers can “play, watch, shop and interact with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar and more.”

“Our exciting new relationship with Epic Games will bring together Disney’s beloved brands and franchises with wildly popular ones. Fortnite in a transformative new universe of games and entertainment,” Disney CEO Robert Iger said. “This marks Disney’s largest-ever entry into the world of gaming and presents significant opportunities for growth and expansion. “We can’t wait for fans to experience the Disney stories and worlds they love in groundbreaking new ways.”

“Disney was one of the first companies to believe in the potential to bring their worlds together with ours. Fortniteand they use the Unreal Engine across their portfolio,” said Epic CEO Tim Sweeney. “Now we’re collaborating with Disney on something completely new to build a persistent, open, and interoperable ecosystem that will bring Disney together. Fortnite communities.”

This isn’t Disney and Epic’s first collaboration. Fortnite hosted several Star wars-themed events over the years, including last year’s Find Strength Event held in honor of the Prequel Trilogy. in 2020, FortniteAccording to the press release announcing the agreement, more than 15.3 million concurrent players participated in the Nexus War with Galactus event, based on the Marvel universe.

While it’s tempting to think of Disney primarily as a maker of film, TV, and Baby Yoda merchandise, it’s had its finger in the gaming pie for a while now. This little piece of information in the press release surprised me a bit. “Disney’s licensed games have garnered more than 150 award nominations, wins and other accolades in 2023; these include multiple Game of the Year nominations. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. “There have been 1.5 billion installations of Disney mobile games worldwide and each of the nine Disney game franchises has generated more than $1 billion in sales to date.” Who knew?

Anyway, congratulations to both of these cash-strapped companies that desperately need a chance to make more money.