Fortnite Developer Epic has signed a new contract

Fortnite developer Epic Games announced today that it has secured $ 1.25 billion in financing from a number of venture capital firms. Not only that, but with the new round of financing, WSJ reports that Epic Games, based in Cary, North Carolina, is now valued at $ 15 billion.

The new round of funding at Epic came from seven different companies: KKR, ICONIQ Capital, Smash Ventures, aXiomatic, Vulcan Capital, Kleiner Perkins and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

According to Epic, "this investment creates powerful partnerships with highly strategic investment companies and people at the cutting edge of technology, entertainment, professional sports, sports and live events."

The seven new companies join Tencent, Disney and Endeavor, all of whom had previously invested in Epic Games at different funding levels. Tencent paid $ 330 million for a 48% majority stake in Epic Games in 2013. Even with all new investments, Epic has retained ownership of Epic Games and continues to be controlled by its founder and CEO, Tim Sweeney.

"We are excited to be working with the best minds in the financial, sports and entertainment industries to strengthen Epic's position as a leader in real-time 3D technology and accelerate our ability to improve the way we do business." people play, work and interact with the world, "Sweeney said in a statement.

New sources of $ 1.25 billion will go to Epic, but sources told WSJ that "all money does not go directly to the company." Part of this amount represents shares sold by companies. existing stakeholders who benefit from it. " of their investment. "

Epic has always been a big name in the video game industry. He created the Gears of War franchise and worked on all major entries until Epic sold the series to Microsoft after Gears of War 3. Epic's profile is considerably increased in recent times after the gigantic and continuous success of Fortnite. The other major component of Epic's business is the Unreal engine, the ubiquitous gaming engine it licenses to developers around the world.