'Fortnite' creator Epic Games has recently raised $2 billion investments from Sony (NYSE: SONY) and Lego, marking a solid collaboration between the companies. This deal will cause Epic's equity valuation to come to about $31.5 billion, and the collaboration will attempt to establish a "family-friendly" metaverse for children.
"A proportion of our investments is focused on trends we believe will impact the future world that we and our children will live in," CEO of Kirkbi (the investment company that is behind Lego), Soren Thorup Sorensen, said in a recent statement.
According to Epic, Sony will invest around $1 billion in them, and Kirkbi will invest about the same amount. There is a great deal of excitement and propaganda surrounding the world of the metaverse in general. Although many other companies, such as Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and Samsung, have been testing out the metaverse more recently, companies such as Epic and Roblox (NASDAQ: RBLX) have already been discussing the concept of the metaverse for an even longer period of time.
According to Tim Sweeney, CEO and founder of Epic Games, this investment will "create spaces where players can have fun with friends, brands can build creative and immersive experiences and creators can build a community and thrive."
Sony Group Corporation, Kirkbi, and Epic Games all intend to combine their ideas and technologies in order to impact the world of entertainment through the establishment of new virtual experiences within the realm of sports and digital gaming, according to a statement.
Analyst at The Motley Fool, Jose Najarro, who is in charge of the technology and gaming segments, told NPR that Epic Games' $2 billion investment "affirms that the metaverse has a future for the gaming community." Najarro also went on to say that the investment could potentially expand upon Epic Games' game engine development.
According to Najarro, Epic Games' primary competitors, Unity Software and Roblox, will have to contend with companies that contain a higher amount of profit and much stronger resources.
"The partnership with Sony and Lego could provide Epic Games with other forms of assets (trademarks, digital products, physical products," Najarro said, quoted by NPR.