Disney Wants to Buy Epic Games and Fortnite: 'We're Waiting for the Right Moment'

Some executives from Disney want to buy Epic Games, along with Fortnite and Unreal Engine. They are reportedly waiting for the right moment to do so, according to tech journalist Alex Heath (who has written for The Verge among others), who stated on the podcast The Town hosted by Matt Belloni that he knows this "for sure," while also adding that other company executives consider the operation a mistake.

From Minority Stake to Total Acquisition

The groundwork was laid in February 2024 when Disney announced a $1.5 billion investment to acquire a minority stake in Epic Games. The declared goal was to build a persistent universe of games and entertainment connected to Fortnite, based on Unreal Engine and designed to integrate franchises like Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and Avatar. Then-CEO Robert Iger described it as "the biggest entry of Disney into the world of video games." The new CEO, Josh D'Amaro, has inherited and radicalized that vision: he wants to make Disney+ the single portal for accessing the entire Disney ecosystem, including gaming. Fortnite would become "the pillar of the interactive part" of the platform.

According to Heath, if Epic were to decide to sell, Disney would be "the most natural home, for many reasons," including integration with theme parks. "Can you imagine a Fortnite park?" he said during the podcast, advancing a hypothesis that fits perfectly into Disney's logic of translating every franchise into physical experiences.

On the technical front, a complete acquisition would grant Disney proprietary access to Unreal Engine, which it already uses for productions like The Mandalorian within the Volume technique that involves backgrounds rendered and projected onto a wall surrounding the actors, but also in a more traditional manner in video games like Kingdom Hearts 3, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and in over 15 attractions in its theme parks.

The news comes just a few days after an internal shake-up at Epic, with CEO Tim Sweeney announcing the layoff of over 1,000 employees, equal to 23% of the workforce. In an open letter, Sweeney identified the decline in Fortnite engagement, which began in 2025, as the main cause of a situation where the company "spends much more than it earns." The cuts accompany savings of over $500 million on contracts, marketing, and open positions. This is not the first time: in September 2023, Epic had already cut approximately 830 people.

For those following the dynamics between the two giants, Disney's investment in Epic now carries a different weight: Epic's financial weakness could lower its valuation and make a complete acquisition economically more sustainable for Disney.