Friday, October 11

Gaming Company Epic Games Secures $1.25Bn from KKR, others

Epic Games, the company that created video game sensation “Fortnite” has secured funds amounting to $1.25 billion in funding from investors, including KKR & Co, Iconiq Capital and Smash Ventures.

“Fortnite,” a sort of hybrid of “The Hunger Games” and “Minecraft,” drops 100 people onto an island to fight each other for survival.

It is a tactical tournament game, whose first version was released in 2017. The game has been called an industry “game-changer” by analysts as it signed up tens of millions of users for its last-player-standing “Battle Royale” format.

According to the reports of the Wall Street Journal, Epic Games has been valued at almost $15 billion after the new investment round. The company counts Tencent, Walt Disney and Endeavor among its minority shareholders, was estimated to be worth $4.5 billion by Jefferies analyst Tim O’Shea in May.

Rival video game makers Activision Blizzard, the creator of “Call of Duty,” and “Grand Theft Auto” owner Take-Two Interactive lost billions of dollars in market value earlier this year as investors took note of Fortnite’s ability to wring cash from players.

“Surprisingly, this game isn’t as demanding as most of the AAA-title games today. In fact, a $500 gaming computer can handle the game smoothly. PCGuide has a roundup of computers that can handle the game perfectly so check that out if you’re looking to invest in a computer to play this game.”