Fall Guys

As a result of Epic Games' acquisition of Tonic Games Group, the developer of 'Fall Guys' will become part of the Fortnite team.

On Tuesday, Epic Games made the announcement that it has acquired the parent business of one of the most popular independent games, 'Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout.' It chose not to disclose the amount that was paid.

Tonic Games Group, the firm that owns Mediatonic Games, an independent studio headquartered in the United Kingdom that released'Fall Guys' last summer to tremendous and nearly instantaneous popularity, will be acquired by Epic. Mediatonic Games developed 'Fall Guys.' After only a few short weeks on the market, the video game had already amassed more than 7 million Steam sales and an unknown amount of PlayStation sales. This summer, the game will be available for the Xbox One as well as the Nintendo Switch.

The agreement will result in continuous investment into the development of 'Fall Guys,' a battle royale game in which players assume the role of a jelly bean and navigate obstacle courses.

The family-friendly entertainment offered by 'Fall Guys' appears to be a good fit with 'Fortnite,' a game developed by Epic Games that is geared toward teenagers. Additionally, it broadens Epic's product offering beyond its game-creation tools, Unreal Engine, as well as its retail outlet, Epic Games Store, and other acquisitions, such as the social media application, House Party. In 2019, Epic completed the acquisition of Psyonix, the company that was responsible for creating the famous car-soccer video game Rocket League.

On its website, Mediatonic stated that the acquisition will not have any impact on the gameplay of 'Fall Guys.' The developer also mentioned that 'Fortnite' and 'Rocket League,' both of which are owned by Epic, have features that it would love to bring to 'Fall Guys,' such as squad modes, cross-play, and account systems.

Mediatonic announced on its website, We'll now have the entire force of Epic Games to help us take the game to new (dizzying) heights.' This was in reference to the company's recent acquisition by Epic Games.

The transaction may potentially result in increased collaboration between different games. In the past, the video games 'Fortnite,' 'Rocket League,' and 'Fall Guys' have each featured content that was taken from other people's intellectual property (IP). 'Fortnite' has worked with a number of popular franchises, including Marvel and Star Wars, among others. There was a crossover event that took place between 'Rocket League' and 'Fortnite.' In the past, costumes from the independent video game 'Cuphead' have been featured on Fall Guys.

According to Joost van Dreunen, founder of video game investment firm New Breukelen, 'Epic essentially becomes the equivalent of a digital theme park.... It is developing a content portfolio that has an aesthetic consistency of bright, colorful, and fun online game play.' 'It stands to reason that large IP holders like Disney and others will want to explore releasing special events and activities.

Mediatonic has reluctant to comment on whether or whether the sale indicates that 'Fall Guys' would eventually become free-to-play, similar to what happened with 'Rocket League' when it was acquired. The game may be played for free on PlayStation if the user has a subscription to PlayStation Plus, which costs $9.99 per month. The game can be purchased on Steam for $19.99.

According to Cassia Curran, founder of Curran Games Agency, the purchase of Epic by Activision is part of a growing trend in recent years of independent game studios being purchased by large firms. Other examples of this trend include Microsoft's purchase of Double Fine and Ninja Theory.

She added that 'Fall Guys' and 'Fortnite' both followed very similar routes to achieve popularity. The fact that 'The Tonic Group has had expertise in producing free-to-play mobile games that required robust social systems and live operations to successfully monetise players,' which led to Fall Guys becoming a hit, was one of the factors that led to the game's success. According to Curran, this is comparable to how Epic interpreted 'Fortnite' in that it needed to be a place for players to engage for a number of years.

According to comments made by Tonic CEO Tim Sweeney in a press statement, the acquisition will assist Epic in further developing its vision of a metaverse, which is also a goal shared by Tonic. One concept for what the next iteration of the Internet might look like is called the metaverse. It is a shared, digital realm that exists online and has its own economy.

Kendall Davis, an advisor at global games fund Kowloon Nights, stated that the games in Epic's first-party portfolio are platforms in their own right. This indicates that Epic should not be viewed as merely a gaming firm but rather as a genuine entertainment company with the ability to draw in and keep big audiences.