Epic Games has given fans a clearer picture of what to expect with their new partnership with Disney.
Earlier this year, Disney invested $ 1.5 billion into Epic Games. This new partnership does not restrict Epic from working with rival media and IP companies, but it does mean they will be making a new “persistent universe.”
So we have really been mostly left to speculate on what this partnership would actually look like. We can imagine that it will be bigger than Lego Fortnite, but since we have already seen tons of Disney characters join Fortnite, what else could they possibly do?
In a new interview with The Verge, Epic Games EVP Saxs Persson explained it like so:
“Disney wants a persistent place where all things Disney can be there, but they want to be part of an ecosystem we’ve built.
We see the power of ecosystems interoperating as being really the magic here. From a player perspective, you want to be able to flow between a Fortnite experience, a Disney experience, or any experience really.”
Persson says that players can enter either a Fortnite front door or Disney frontdoor to enter Disney’s persistent universe, but both will be based on the same cosmetic lockers and social graph. AS The Verge points out, that sounds very similar to how Lego Fortnite has been implemented. Perhaps, instead of being a Fortnite Experience, Disney will have its own separate world that is shown in the Fortnite launcher as its own button.
That’s still speculation on our end. But Persson was very clear about something we can’t do. Again, in his words:
“Not every outfit will be able to do everything. A [Lego] minifig doesn’t hold a gun. Brands should be able to enforce the brand guidelines to the degree that they’re comfortable with that brand being associated with particular ratings.
Some IPs are not teen IPs or mature IPs. They are E for everyone IPs.”
So, applying this to Disney characters in Fortnite now, we have seen the Marvel and Star Wars characters you would expect to be able to use guns, but they have also allowed the likes of Mr. & Mrs. Incredible, Maleficent, and Cruella De Vil to use guns too.
Now, The Verge reporter used the example of Mickey Mouse, and other outlets have run with it, but this was clearly an assumption made by non-fans. Mickey and Minnie Mouse have used guns before, and so has Donald Duck, and so has Goofy. Even Winnie The Pooh has used a gun before, so we should probably wait and see how Disney and Epic decides to play this hand.
