If you’re sick of Fortnite, know that the company just raised another $1 billion

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Announced today, Epic Games, the creators of the smash hit Fortnite, has raised another $1 billion – $1.25 billion to be exact.

The investment comes from KKR, ICONIQ Capital, Smash Ventures, aXiomatic, Vulcan Capital, Kleiner Perkins, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. According to the press release, the new investments and partners help create “powerful partnerships with highly strategic investment firms and individuals at the forefront of technology, entertainment, professional sports, esports, and live events.”

Which basically means, “we’re going to continue to monetize a free-to-play game to the point your parents’ have to get second jobs to support your skin addictions.”

The shareholder list continues to grow

This round of investors will now join Tencent, Disney, and Endeavor as minority shareholders in Epic. Founder and CEO, Tim Sweeney, will continue to control the company.

Ted Oberwager of KKR states:

Epic Games has fundamentally changed the model for interactive entertainment under the company’s visionary leadership. Alongside a special group of investors, we are thrilled to support Epic’s dedicated employees and the passionate community of players and developers that lies at the heart of everything that Epic Games does.

I can definitely agree with the sentiment. Epic Games is changing how we view and interact with entertainment, especially on the actual video game side, but in other areas as well. Esports tournaments are seeing huge prize pools, deals are being struck with companies, and Fortnite has even infected the Halloween costume market.

Back on the gaming side:

With the huge amounts of money the free-to-play game is raking in, I have a feeling we’ll continue to see a drive towards content that can be had for free (or cheap), but bolstered with additional content through real money purchases.

Obviously, this is nothing new, mobile and online games have been using loot boxes and other forms of real-currency add-ons for years, but none have had the same mass appeal as Fortnite.

What could this mean for the future of games? It’s tough to say, but knowing that investors are looking at games like Fortnite and seeing these huge revenue streams, I believe it will start putting more pressure on studios to find ways to not only sell more games, but more add-ons, as well. And when games don’t produce the results that might be expected? “Oh, but that Fortnite game did this, why can’t we also have a randomly massive hit that generates billions?”

Anyways, yeah, Fortnite just raked in a bunch more cash. Kids everywhere continue to learn the various dances. I still hate everything. Life goes on.

Still playing Fortnite or does it annoy you as much as it does me? Let us know in the comments below.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• Spice up your Twitch stream or Skype call with Snap Camera for desktop
• Fortnitemares is Fortnite’s Halloween event that includes new guns and ghoulish monsters
• You can now buy games and a subscription service directly through Discord

Josiah Motley

Former KnowTechie editor.