The Walt Disney Company’s new CEO, Josh D’Amaro, is a big fan of video games, and one former Disney executive believes D’Amaro would be smart to do even more in gaming going forward. This could include a buyout of a gaming company like Epic Games.
In an interview with CNBC, Kevin Mayer–a former Disney and TikTok executive who now runs Candle Media–said D’Amaro will need to take “bold steps” to help Disney make more money and grow its stock price. One part of this could be doing more in gaming, he said.
Mayer called out how D’Amaro championed the $1.5 billion investment into Epic Games for a Fortnite project, saying it was a “great move.” However, Mayer said D’Amaro needs to “figure out” how to turn gaming overall at Disney into a growth driver. One way he could do that is by opening the checkbook and buying a gaming company, Mayer said.
“I think Epic or some other video game asset would be a great addition to The Walt Disney Company’s asset base,” he said (via Boardwalk Times).
Technology reporter Alex Heath recently said on Matthew Belloni’s podcast, The Town, that he knows “for a fact” that senior executives at Disney want to buy Epic Games and are waiting for the right moment. Other executives at Disney believe it would be a bad idea, Heath said.
“I think 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 for a lot of reasons,” Heath said.
At the same time, Epic Games is a founder-controlled company, with CEO Tim Sweeney retaining full voting stock control. He has the ability to make unilateral decisions, Heath pointed out, adding that there is reason to believe some at Disney would not want to pursue a buyout of Epic.
Epic would not be Disney’s first potential acquisition target. In 2023, it was reported that Disney was interested in pursuing a purchase of Electronic Arts, but it never materialized, and now EA is being bought for $55 billion by a group of investors including Saudi Arabia’s PIF.
In regards to Disney growing its gaming footprint, a report from earlier this year said Disney executives were exploring potential partnerships with gaming companies, but those talks stalled due to the search for a new Disney CEO. D’Amaro has spoken very enthusiastically about growing Disney’s business with gaming and by taking risks, and lining up a big new gaming deal could fit with those plans.
The Disney x Fortnite project is one of the many licensing deals for games that Disney has in the works currently. The numerous upcoming Star Wars games are all being made via licensing arrangements with Disney, as are upcoming Marvel projects like the new Blade and Wolverine games.
At one point in history, Disney operated its own internal game development team with Disney Interactive Studios, but it shut down in 2016 alongside the discontinuation of Disney Infinity.
The latest big development for Disney video games came through Fortnite with the debut of the Star Wars assets for the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN). The new tools give creators numerous Star Wars assets, including iconic locations, weapons, voices, and music, to create whatever games they want. These creations will officially get published beginning May 1, and Epic will highlight the best of them.
Epic Games recently laid off 1,000+ developers, including someone with terminal brain cancer. Despite the cuts, Epic still has 4,000+ developers, and the Disney x Fortnite project remains in development.