It is the third time Sony has sponsored Epic Games: it already injected $250 million into Tim Sweeney’s company in July 2020, and about a year ago, it sent another $200 million to Epic Games’ bank account…

Epic Games confirmed on Twitter that the company has received another two billion dollars in investment from Sony and KIRKBI for their ambitious plans for the metaverse. What is KIRKBI? Oh, nothing special, just the parent company of the LEGO Group, which is family-owned… and LEGO isn’t far from Epic, as they’re partnering to create a kid-friendly version of the metaverse.

The company will continue to be led by Tim Sweeney, who is, after all, the president and founder of Epic Games. The company’s post-money equity valuation is now $31.5 billion. So Epic is not going to be an easy buyout because Chinese tech giant Tencent has a significant stake in the company.

“As a creative entertainment company, we are thrilled to invest in Epic to deepen our relationship in the metaverse field, a space where creators and users share their time. We are also confident that Epic’s expertise, including their powerful game engine, combined with Sony’s technologies, will accelerate our various efforts such as the development of new digital fan experiences in sports and our virtual production initiatives,” Kenichiro Yoshida, Chairman, President, and CEO of Sony Group Corporation said in a statement.

“Epic Games is known for building playful and creative experiences and empowering creators large and small. A proportion of our investments is focused on trends we believe will impact the future world that we and our children will live in. This investment will accelerate our engagement in the world of digital play, and we are pleased to be investing in Epic Games to support their continued growth journey, with a long-term focus toward the future metaverse,” Søren Thorup Sørensen, CEO of KIRKBI, stated.

“As we reimagine the future of entertainment and play, we need partners who share our vision. We have found this in our partnership with Sony and KIRKBI. This investment will accelerate our work to build the metaverse and create spaces where players can have fun with friends, brands can build creative and immersive experiences, and creators can build a community and thrive,” Tim Sweeney, CEO and Founder of Epic Games, added.

However, we can reverse the thought. Sony now has spent enough money on getting Unreal Engine 5 with a discount or has to give Epic Games a minor cut per sale due to the continued investments! (They did give Epic a BILLION dollar in investment just now…)

Source: WCCFTech