Epic Games has offered a few more details on its under-wraps Disney project, which will connect into Fortnite.
The mysterious project was announced earlier this year alongside a $1.5bn investment by Disney into Epic Games, strengthening the already-close bond between the two companies.
Fortnite features dozens of Disney skins, including characters from Star Wars, Marvel and now Pixar franchises. In the coming weeks, Disney animation villains such as Cruella De Vil and Maleficient will also join the game’s ranks.
All of these skins can be used without restriction: Spider-Man and Luke Skywalker can team up to headshot enemies with shotguns and uzis before doing the floss dance to celebrate. But it sounds like this won’t be the case with Epic Games’ Disney-specific mode.
“Not every outfit will be able to do everything,” Epic Games exec Saxs Persson said, speaking to The Verge.
“A [Lego] minifig doesn’t hold a gun,” he continued (which is true to a point – minifigures aren’t used in Fortnite’s battle royale mode, though they certainly can wield guns in Lego Fortnite). “Brands should be able to enforce the brand guidelines to the degree that they’re comfortable with that brand being associated with particular ratings.”
The Disney experience will share – to some extent – Fortnite players’ existing “lockers” of cosmetics. But just as some skins don’t have Lego versions, it seems likely many Fortnite skins won’t have Disney alternatives either (so John Wick and Predator seem unlikely to be rubbing shoulders with the Seven Dwarves).
“Disney wants a persistent place where all things Disney can be there, but they want to be part of an ecosystem we’ve built,” Persson continued.
The game will connect with Fortnite so players can “flow between a Fortnite experience, a Disney experience, or any experience,” he added, saying that players will be able to join the experience either by coming “in the Disney front door or the Fortnite front door”.
This sounds like the game will be available as a standalone product, but will also be accessible within Fortnite as another one of the game’s modes. Indeed, this fits with the publishing model Epic Games has discussed previously, and again at Unreal Fest in Seattle last week, where Unreal Engine projects will eventually be publishable seamlessly both on their own and within the hugely-popular Fortnite.
It is, as ever, a very busy time for Epic Games, following this past weekend’s Fortnite Doctor Doom live event and the company’s recently-launched legal action against Google and Samsung.