Image Source: Visual China

BEIJING, April 12 (TMTPOST) — Game developer Epic Games has recently received a US$2 billion investment from Sony and LEGO, which boosted the company’s valuation above US$30 billion.

The unreal engine developer announced on Monday that it received a US$2 billion investment from Sony and LEGO’s Kirkbi, with both companies contributing US$1 billion. The investment has pushed up Epic Games’ valuation to US$31.5 billion from US$17.3 billion in August 2020.

Epic Games’ unreal engine is one of the biggest game-making engines in the world. The company also operates its own online game marketplace Epic Game Store, directly competing with Microsoft and Valve.

Earlier in 2020, Sony made a US$250 million strategic investment in Epic Games. In March, Epic Games and LEGO jointly announced that they would develop a virtual world game for families.

Epic Games’ founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said that the financing will help the company accelerate its metaverse project. Sweeney said in the same statement that “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.”

The deal marks companies’ interest in the metaverse. LEGO’s successful video game titles include LEGO Star Wars and Lego Batman: The Videogame. LEGO Kirkbi’s chief executive Søren Thorup Sørensen noted “a proportion of our investments is focused on trends we believe will impact the future world that we and our children will live in.” The $1 billion stake aligns with that mission, Sørensen said.

Traditional video game developers such as Sony are also paying close attention to the development of the metaverse. The US$67 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft earlier this year presents a threat to Sony. The Japanese video game giant’s share price has slumped by over 20% this year.