Sony and Epic Games announced today that Sony has invested $250 million into Epic Games, becoming a minority shareholder in the company.

Sony’s investment into Epic Games gives Sony a 1.4% in the studio. This increases the Fortnite publisher’s value to $17.86 billion, according to VentureBeat. The partnership allows Sony and Epic to collab on future events in Fortnite, and continue to innovate on the Unreal Engine.

Fortnite has had in-game events in the past revolving around debuting movie trailers, having live concerts, and new skins based off of other IP’s. Sony’s investment into Epic allows Sony to debut new movie trailers, or even screen full movies belonging Sony studios. Artists under Sony’s music label can hold live concerts and debut new songs through Fortnite, similar to the Travis Scott Fortnite concert.

“Epic’s powerful technology in areas such as graphics places them at the forefront of game engine development with Unreal Engine and other innovations,” said Kenichiro Yoshida, President, and CEO of Sony Corporation. “There’s no better example of this than the revolutionary entertainment experience, Fortnite.”

Epic Games is also the owner of the Unreal Engine, one of the most popular game engines used by developers. Sony’s investment could give their first-party studios access to the Unreal Engine should they want to use it for upcoming games. For Epic, it will probably be easier to develop games on the PlayStation 5 and future PlayStation consoles.

Fortnite is evolving from a battle royale to a full-on social platform. Artists like Marshmello and Travis Scott have put on live concerts in the game, and movie trailers for Star Wars and Tenet have premiered in Fortnite. The game has had collaborative skin events with Disney, the NFL, and DC. Fortnite has become a pop-culture hub where people can express themselves, and it has become a place where friends can hang out. Sony’s investment into Epic makes sense because Fortnite is changing from a video game into a virtual platform.

Despite the investment from Sony, Epic Games will still publish its games to other platforms. Many game developers use the Unreal Engine, and this move will not make the engine Sony exclusive. The money will help improve Fortnite and the Unreal Engine. Sony gets the benefit of being a part of the evolution that Fortnite is currently undergoing.

Source: BusinessWire