Epic Games Gets Around $29 Billion valuations in latest funding
On Tuesday, the video game Fortnite developer, Epic Games, announced its latest funding valuations. According to the note, in a new round of funding, they raised $1 billion that lifted the company’s valuation to around $29 billion.
North Carolina-based firm, the Cary, said that the company received $200 million of cash from Sony. That was an investment for Epic Games last year. Other investors in the round were Baillie Gifford, Appaloosa, and Fidelity. Epic’s market value increased by 66% from what it was in a $1.8 billion last year.
CEO and founder of the company Tim Sweeney said that he and his team are grateful to their new and existing investors. He thanked everyone who supported their vision for Epic and the Metaverse.
In the middle of a legal battle with Apple, Epic Games said that the company raised $1 billion worth of funds on Tuesday. It was in a funding round that resulted in valuing Fortnite at $28.7 billion.
According to research firm NPD, people staying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic have turned to games for entertainment. It helped drive a 35% surge in video game spending in February to about $4.6 billion.
However, the minority shareholder Sony Group send $200 million of investment to Epic Games. According to the statement of the company, they received additional funds from Sony.
Fights between Epic Games and Apple
The latest funds come from investors as a result of the fight between Epic and Apple. After the video games maker attempted to avoid a 30% App Store fee last year, they fight in court. Epic Games launched its in-app payment system. This move prompted Apple to ban Fortnite from the app store.
Last week Apple said that it planned to argue about this issue to defend itself against Epic Games.
Tim Sweeney, Epic Chief Executive Officer, will control the company’s shareholders after the latest investments.
Sweeney said that their investment would help accelerate their work on building connected social experiences in Fortnite, Fall Guys, and Rocket League. The company continues to empower game creators and developers with Epic Online Services, Unreal Engine, and the Epic Games Store.
Epic launched the free-to-play battle-royal videogame Fortnite 4 years ago, in 2017. Since then, it has gained massive interest from young gamers.
According to its website, it has more than 160 million users on its PC store.
