Is Disney Buying Fortnite? It’s a Terrible Idea for FN Players

Is Disney buying Fortnite? The two companies have had a long relationship, with Disney investing a ton of money in the game developer over the years. With the title crawling in Disney Fortnite collabs and clearly generating a bit more interest in their IP. They’re even working together on a series of new modes. But will it go any further? According to some executives, Disney buying Fortnite could be a great move.

The whole thing is being discussed by executives linked to the company in the past. According to them, a discussion on Disney buying Fortnite might be happening with Disney’s new CEO. Is it actually more than wishful thinking from the Disney board though? The whole idea of Disney buying Fortnite feels like a non-starter given the value of the game to privately-owned Epic.

What makes it feel a little less ridiculous though, is that it’s coming as Fortnite has increasingly hit dangerous waters. Boycotts over price increases, lacklustre new seasons, and laying off a huge number of employees. It’s been a very public crisis for Epic Games in the last few months. It might end in them being bought by the Walt Disney company.

Is Disney Buying Fortnite?

One of the stranger Fortnite stories this week is the possibility of Disney buying Fortnite. It also started with a former Disney executive talking with CNBC, which was reported by Gamespot. Kevin Mayer discussed what Disney’s new CEO would have to do, including further entering the world of gaming.

He called the $1.5 billion investment in Epic a great move. Discussing further investment he said “I think Epic or any other video game asset would be a great addition to the Walt Disney Company’s asset base” and “If Epic ever sold, if it ever decided to call it quits on being an independent company, Disney would be the most natural home for it”. He also claimed he knew for a fact that some executives at Disney want to buy Epic Games outright, on the podcast the Town.

That doesn’t mean it’s happening though. This is largely speculation from a executive who isn’t part of Disney anymore. A lot of companies would likely like to buy Fortnite and Epic, but it probably isn’t happening. While other companies have investments in Epic, Tim Sweeney does remain in control of the company. It would not be Disney’s decision alone.

Would Disney Buying Fortnite be a Good Idea?

For fans of current Fortnite? probably not.

Disney has purchased video game companies before. It never goes well. They fired everyone at Lucas Arts on Day 1, chucking out everything they worked on irrelevant of its condition. Most recently they’ve been farming out their IP rather than creating their own games. Sometimes attaching a brand name from a developer they gutted to the game. Along with making an investment in Epic.

Fortnite has a lot to offer people outside of Disney adverts. The Fortnite seasons dedicated to Disney’s IP entirely have been a pretty mixed bag, with the Star Wars season flopping and arguably starting the year of decline Fortnite has been in. Marvel skins are overdone at this point and failing to attract attention now we have hundreds of them. Turning the game over wholesale to Disney doesn’t seem good for Fortnite.

Would Disney have much interest in continuing the world of Fortnite esports with Blast? Or in building a game that’s rewarding to play even if you don’t have money to spend on their licenced skins? Or having content that isn’t an advert for Disney’s roster for endless sequels and soulless remakes? Probably not.

Fortnite is in a Crisis Right Now

On the other hand, Epic isn’t doing a particularly shining job lately either. They’ve laid off a ton of Fortnite staff lately. Which currently means a ton of the people responsible for making Fortnite iconic and fun, are out of work and publicly discussing it on social media.

Epic’s even having to row back decisions after backlash, like firing an employee in the middle of fighting cancer and leaving him without health insurance. They eventually moved to help the employee. But the fact that no one involved in the layoffs checked in the first place is pretty damning.

The problems with the game’s performance after losing most of its experienced dev team, along with the backlash, might lead to a spiral.

Fortnite isn’t in a bright spot right now. A Disney buyout probably won’t help though. In the past, deals like this have seen the game or developer rinsed for all the value it can before shut down and discarded.

Few Fortnite players are likely excited about it becoming a Disney advert 24/7. The yearly lengthy Star Wars product placement takeovers are tiresome enough. It’s a film franchise without a single decent film in the over 45 years. Which, for some reason, gets a month every year of product placement. Even in years without anything Star Wars to promote.

Even fewer are likely excited for Unreal Engine to become their property either. The engine has become an extremely impressive bit of software on the back of Fortnite’s success. It’s very doubtful Disney would uphold Epic’s commitments with Unreal outside of Fortnite. It remains to be seen if the company is even for sale though.

One thing recent events have proven is that Tim Sweeney is willing to sacrifice a lot for his larger goals. They probably don’t align with handing Epic Games over to Disney.