Epic Games Receives $2 Billion Investment To Build Metaverse

• Epic Games receives a $2 billion boost in its pursuit of a metaverse.
• Sony and the KIRKBI group pooled $1 billion each for the investment.

In a round of funding, Epic Games has received $2 billion. The investment from Sony and KIRKBI, the company behind the LEGO Group, will be directed at building a family-friendly metaverse.

Epic Games is widely known for being the developers of the sensational battle royale game Fortnite, which sees 100 players go up against themselves in a sandbox-like environment till there is only one left. It is also the company behind the Unreal gaming engine.

On Monday, Epic Games, in a post on their website, revealed that it has obtained funding from Sony and KIRKBI Investments, the firm behind the LEGO Group, to support its plan to build for the metaverse. Just last week, the gaming company revealed its partnership with LEGO for this very purpose. In their latest statement, Epic games say the companies involved plan to create an experience that brings to the fore the link between the physical and digital worlds.

Sony and KIRKBI will each commit $1 billion to the cause. The investment will push Epic Games to a $31.5 billion valuation. 

“As a creative entertainment company, we are thrilled to invest in Epic to deepen our relationship in the metaverse field, a space where creators and users share their time,” said Kenichiro Yoshida, the head of the Sony Group Corporation. Speaking further on the investment, Yoshida said, “We are also confident that Epic’s expertise, including their powerful game engine, combined with Sony’s technologies, will accelerate our various efforts such as the development of new digital fan experiences in sports and our virtual production initiatives.”

KIRKBI CEO Søren Thorup Sørensen, according to the statement, also said, “A proportion of our investments is focused on trends we believe will impact the future world that we and our children will live in. This investment will accelerate our engagement in the world of digital play, and we are pleased to be investing in Epic Games to support their continued growth journey, with a long-term focus toward the future metaverse.”

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney remarked that all entities involved share the same vision for the future of entertainment. Sweeney added that the investment would speed up the development of a metaverse where players can have a fun and immersive experience.

Last year, investment bank Morgan Stanley tipped the metaverse to be the next theme for a bull run in the blockchain space. The prediction came less than a month after Facebook now Meta underwent a rebranding to declare its new focus on building technology around the ecosystem.

While Meta is not the first to come up with the idea of a metaverse, its rebranding has brought a lot of attention to the space. Industries ranging from fashion, gaming, and even traditional finance have taken notice. As reported by ZyCrypto last week, global bank HSBC launched a fund to invest in promising opportunities in the metaverse for its Asian clients.