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The Story: On Wednesday, the Walt Disney Company announced a $1.5 billion investment to acquire an equity stake in Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite, one of the world’s most popular video games.

The collaboration will yield an entirely new universe in the gaming space.

Pending regulatory approvals, the partnership aims to deliver an unparalleled gaming experience, integrating the iconic worlds of Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, Avatar, and Marvel with the hundreds of millions of active Fortnite players.

Disney says the partnership will give users not only the chance to play in this reimagined virtual world, but to “watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories” from its most popular franchises.

Powered by Unreal Engine, this new virtual experience shares a striking resemblance to the “metaverse” concept that came into and then quickly out of popularity in the tech world a few years ago. According to Disney, “Players, gamers and fans will be able to create their own stories and experiences, express their fandom in a distinctly Disney way, and share content with each other in ways that they love.”

Wednesday’s announcement of this new partnership saw Disney’s stock have its best day in over three years as it rose nearly 13% in less than 24 hours between Wednesday and Thursday.

While the investment was well-received by fans of Disney, the deal didn’t garner the same big win for Epic Games. The company’s valuation, which now sits at $22.5 billion, took a sharp 29% cut from its high point of $31.5 billion back in 2022.

But the partnership may be just what Fortnite needs. Positioning itself as a frontrunner in creating the first mainstream metaverse project could see Epic Games quickly reclaim its spot as the world’s leading video game developer.

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