Following this week’s news that Sony Corporation has acquired a minority stake in Fortnite and Unreal Engine developer, Epic Games, internet users accused CEO Tim Sweeney of making positive statements about the PlayStation 5 due to the deal – a claim he denies.
This isn’t the first time Epic has been accused of such a thing. Back in May, an Xbox fan theorized that Sony struck a secret deal with Epic to promote Unreal Engine 5 and the PS5. Sweeney dismissed these claims back then as well, stating that anything Epic has worked with Sony on has already been publicly announced. In his most recent tweet, he said that Epic entered into serious discussions with Sony after the UE5 demo.
There’s not some secret deal. 100% of the stuff we’ve been working on with Sony over the past months is now publicly announced: The UE5 demo on PlayStation 5, Nanite, Lumen, and Epic Online Services for cross-platform play across all platforms.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) May 17, 2020
Yes, here’s what I said back in May below. Serious investment discussions followed from the Unreal Engine 5 demo we showed on PlayStation 5. I guess they liked it!https://t.co/c9x4q1v87P https://t.co/XoOTR5hThU
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) July 9, 2020
“Through our investment, we will explore opportunities for further collaboration with Epic to delight and bring value to consumers and the industry at large, not only in games, but also across the rapidly evolving digital entertainment landscape,” Sony said of the deal. “Sony and Epic have both built businesses at the intersection of creativity and technology, and we share a vision of real-time 3D social experiences leading to a convergence of gaming, film, and music.”
Worth noting that Sweeney has previously said that UE5’s tech will be “awesome” on both the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
