Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar and Beyond: a Persistent Universe for Disney, Unreal Engine, and Rocket League
Disney stock got a boost in Thursday’s trading after the company announced on Wednesday that it will invest a billion dollars with the developer of “Fortnite”.
In addition to being a world-class games experience and interoperating with Fortnite, the new persistent universe will offer a multitude of opportunities for consumers to play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters, and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar, and more. 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. Unreal Engine will be used to power this.
That sounds a lot like Epic’s recent collaboration with Lego. In 2022, Epic received a $2 billion investment — which was split between Sony and KIRKBI, an investment company helmed by the family behind Lego — which resulted in the launch of the survival game Lego Fortnite earlier this year. That launch of the game was part of a new era for it that saw the game grow into a platform for other kinds of games and experiences. The studio behind the hit video game Rocket League collaborated with the makers of Rock Band to release a music game and a racer.
It’s unclear when this metaverse will debut, but the collaboration has already yielded a curious announcement: Rocket League, which is under the Epic umbrella, is getting a Mandalorian-themed update complete with a Grogu car topper.
Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) at Disney plus: Streaming the Moana Movie and Changing Live Sports Platforms
The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) concert film will head to Disney+, in an exclusive streaming debut, on March 15. The film will include the song “cardigan” and four additional acoustic songs that Iger says “were not in the theatrical or digital purchase release of the film.”
The original Moana was the “most streamed movie on any platform in the U.S.” in 2023, according to Iger. He says the sequel will have a theatrical release in November after being “im impressed with what we saw” and being originally developed as a series.
The NFL, NBA, WNBA, NASCAR, college sports, Grand Slam Tennis and more would be included in a one-stop shop for online sports by Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and FOX. Back in 2007, different TV networks created a new streaming service, called Hulu. The platform will allow these companies to control how live sports migrate over to streaming. It will help them compete with other companies in theSilicon Valley that have financial resources.
