Fall Guys Developer Bought Out By Fortnite Creator Epic Games

Fall Guys developer Mediatonic has been acquired by Epic Games, the developer and publisher of Fortnite. This is the second noteworthy indie developer that Epic has bought in recent years, following the acquisition of Rocket League developer Psyonix. The move comes as a sudden surprise, but makes plenty of sense following the meteoric rise and success of Fall Guys in late 2020.

Fall Guys sprung on to the gaming scene last August amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Given there weren't a ton of online games releasing at that time and many were dwelling indoors, it made something new very exciting. As a bonus, the game was also free with PlayStation Plus when it debuted, which made it incredibly accessible to a wide gaming audience. Many fell in love with the game's colorful, competitive-yet-fun mini-games, and it quickly nabbed the attention of various publishers. Over the last several months, Fall Guys has seen numerous crossovers, from DOOM to the more recent Cuphead. It didn't stop there, though, as Epic Games wants more than just an in-game outfit.

Epic has acquired Fall Guys developer Mediatonic for unknown sum of money, reportedly in an effort to help give more resources to the team to allow for more content. Mediatonic promises in a new FAQ that this will not change Fall Guys' gameplay, community, or anything else. Instead, the studio claims this buyout will allow it to more easily add features via Epic's massive infrastructure, including highly-requested crossplay between platforms and more. In a statement on the acquisition, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney remarked:

Mediatonic noted how important it was to find a company that echoed its same values. “At Tonic Games Group we often say that ‘everyone deserves a game that feels like it was made for them.’ With Epic, we feel like we have found a home that was made for us. They share our mission to build and support games that have a positive impact, empower others and stand the test of time and we couldn’t be more excited to be joining forces with their team," said Dave Bailey, Tonic Games Group Co-Founder and CEO.

Of course, many will likely remain leery of this latest development in the world of gaming mergers. Despite MediaTonic's above promise about Epic's involvement not possibly bringing on any meaningful changes to the experience that players have grown to love and expect, the changes made to Rocket League after its own Epic buyout likely point to the contrary. However, there's no question that greater resources from the mega-rich Fortnite publisher will be a positive change for Mediatonic, and it can be hoped that its new owner's alleged crunch culture doesn't make its way to the UK developer.

Recent leaks suggested that Fortnite and Fall Guys would get a crossover, but few were likely expecting this latest development. The Epic Games acquisition will hopefully allow the team to grow its team, make content faster and easier, and much more. Fall Guys was also recently confirmed to launch on Nintendo Switch and Xbox consoles later this summer.

Fall Guys is available on PS4 and PC, and it will launch on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in Summer 2021.