CARY – Fortnite is a huge global success for Epic Games – financially and with hundreds of millions of players – but the privately held video game technology firm is looking to grow bigger by acquiring Psyonix, creator of the very popular Rocket League.

How big could the deal prove to Epic?

Business Insider labels Rocket League “one of the most popular games on the planet.”

Having worked together for years and with Rocket League created using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine technology, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said he considers Psyonix “family.”

“We have great respect for how Psyonix has built an excellent team and an incredible community around ‘Rocket League,’” Sweeney told Variety.

And Epic is getting a franchise with 57 million players as well as having sold millions of copies of the game. Rocket League is described as “vehicular soccer.”

Epic raised $1.25 billion in new equity last fall and continues to put that capital to work. This is the second acquisition the company has announced so far in 2019.

More esports

The acquisition also moves Epic deeper into the online esports market.

“We think this is a great move for the Rocket League Esports ecosystem because it significantly increases our potential reach and resources, just like it does for the game itself,” Psyonix wrote in the blog post.

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“We really do believe that you’ll find our future in esports to be very exciting — especially in the near future, where on June 21-23 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) finals will end our 7th season with a bang!”

The deal is expected to close in the near future, the companies said. Financial details were not disclosed.

In January, Epic acquired 3Lateral, a developer of digital humans technology and creative content.

The Serbia-based group will continue supporting game industry, film, and television partners while working to advance the state of the art in Unreal Engine’s support for virtual humans and creatures.

Psyonix, which is based in San Diego with more than 130 employees, went out of its way to tell Rocket League players that the game will be supported on Valve’s gaming service/store Steam. But wording of the announcement indicates that Rocket League at some point will be moved to Epic’s own store.

“In the short term, nothing will change at all! We’re still committed to providing Rocket League with frequent updates that have new features, new content, and new ways to play the game for as long as you’ll have us,” the company said in a blog post.

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“In the long-term, we expect to bring Rocket League to the Epic Games store and to leverage our new relationship to grow the game in ways we couldn’t do on our own before. We believe that bringing Rocket League to new audiences with more support is a win for everybody.”

Epic’s booming store

The addition of Rocket League will bolster Epic’s store that launched in December. It’s off to a strong start, too.

“We want to thank gamers, developers, and publishers for making April the biggest month so far for the Epic Games store!” Epic said Wednesday.

“Saber Interactive’s World War Z has sold over 320,000 copies on the Epic Games store so far, with 250,000 in its first week.

“Satisfactory launched in Early Access a little over a month ago. Early projections of its popularity were slightly underestimated: this has been Coffee Stain’s best PC launch ever!

“Anno 1800 from Ubisoft, and Metro: Exodus from 4A Games, had the best PC launches in their respective franchise’s history. Congratulations to Metro: Exodus for leading the way as the top-grossing Epic Games store title.”

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