Recently, Disney CEO Bob Iger shared of a new partnership between The Walt Disney Company and Epic Games. This collaboration will see Disney stories from its many different properties being brought into Fortnite. “Our exciting new relationship with Epic Games will bring together Disney’s beloved brands and franchises with the hugely popular Fortnite in a transformational new games and entertainment universe,” said Iger. “This marks Disney’s biggest entry ever into the world of games and offers significant opportunities for growth and expansion. We can’t wait for fans to experience the Disney stories and worlds they love in groundbreaking new ways.”
The partnership was built in the form of a $1.5 billion investment to acquire an equity stake in Epic Games. “Disney was one of the first companies to believe in the potential of bringing their worlds together with ours in Fortnite, and they use Unreal Engine across their portfolio,” said Tim Sweeney, CEO and Founder, Epic Games. “Now we’re collaborating on something entirely new to build a persistent, open and interoperable ecosystem that will bring together the Disney and Fortnite communities.”
Now that collaboration is beginning to take shape on the Disney side of things. Disney has begun to build its leadership for its video games initiatives. Disney promoted its top video game executive, Sean Shoptaw, executive vice president of the division. It also has hired some new talent as well. Ray Gresko will be the senior vice president of product and development and Bjorn Tornqvist will be vice president of games technology.
Ray Gresko comes to Disney from Blizzard Entertainment. While at Blizzard, Gresko helped develop games like Overwatch and Diablo III. Tornqvist comes from Ubisoft. At Ubisoft, he worked on the technology side.
Marvel Games team lead Jay Ong also is taking a new role in Disney’s new investment in video game success. He has been tasked to lead Disney’s global games licensing business. Haluk Mentes will take his place and lead Marvel Games.
“Under the leadership of Sean and Jay, Disney’s games business is perfectly positioned to deliver world-class storytelling in this medium,” said Disney Consumer Products President Tasia Filippatos. “We’re grateful to every member of the Disney Games team who has contributed to our success, and who will help shape the future of this industry through genre-defining entertainment.”
What do you think of this new leadership team that is developing to take Disney’s video games into a new era of success? Are you excited about this collaboration between Disney and Epic Games? What are you most looking forward to seeing come out of this? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!
