Epic Games and Disney are working together on multiple upcoming games as part of the mysterious Disney x Fortnite project, and now one of them has seemingly been revealed early–it’s probably not what you expect.
Bloomberg reported that the first new game to come from Disney’s $1.5 billion investment into Epic Games will launch in November and it will be a shooter along the lines of the popular extraction game Arc Raiders. Players will be able to suit up as a Disney character and duke it out until they reach an extraction point, sources told the site. According to the report, internal reviews for the project have assessed it to be “not very original” in its current form, but other staffers said they feel optimistic that it will be in better shape come launch.
Disney’s investment into Epic and Fortnite will span at least two more games, the sources added. An early version of the second game got “middling internal reviews,” sources said. The report went on to say budget for the third game was shifted to the first two projects because “Disney was disappointed by Epic’s release timeline.”
A spokesperson for Epic Games told Bloomberg that its reporting on these unannounced games was “not reflective of the ambitions of the Disney collaboration.” The spokesperson said Epic has “aggressive” development timelines, and it has always been this way.
“We’ve heavily moved developers onto projects with releases approaching, while smaller prototyping teams are working on further-off projects,” the spokesperson said.
A Disney spokesperson, meanwhile, said it continues to be focused on a “long-term collaboration” with Epic to build a “transformational games and entertainment universe.”
GameSpot has followed up with Epic and Disney seeking comment as well.
Epic’s recent round of 1,000+ layoffs included people working on the unannounced Disney games, the report said. Three former Epic developers speaking to Bloomberg said they faced an “unrealistic schedule,” according to the site. Multiple current and former Epic developers said this was emblematic of a pattern that they believed played a part in Epic’s recent downsizing decision.
While the reported Arc Raiders-style game in Fortnite would be the first brand-new Disney game for Fortnite, Disney and Epic have been in business together for a long time already. Numerous Star Wars and Marvel characters have come to Fortnite, for example, and Toy Story characters came to the game today, April 10. In other news, Fortnite now allows players to build whatever Star Wars games they want, utilizing numerous Star Wars assets, including iconic locations, weapons, voices, and music.
Disney and Epic also work together for film and TV production, with Disney’s Lucasfilm utilizing the Unreal Engine to film major productions like The Mandalorian. Beyond this, Disney’s new CEO, Josh D’Amaro, has said Fortnite could play host to movie premieres, or even be a way for players to buy Disney Cruise Line tickets.
D’Amaro’s love of video games, combined with the ongoing investment and close relationship between Disney and Epic, has fueled theories that Disney could buy Epic and Fortnite. That remains to be seen, and Epic CEO Tim Sweeney owns a majority interest in Epic and would have to sign off.
