Epic Games has invested $ 20 million in Spire Animation studio: we are waiting for films and series on the Unreal Engine

Epic Games is trying to improve its portfolio, like many other gaming companies in recent times. Epic Games recently decided to invest in an animated film studio that should bolster the company's metaverse aspirations.

Epic Games has made a $20 million investment in Spire Animation Studios, co-founded by former Ratatouille and How to Train Your Dragon producer Brad Lewis. The studio is reportedly planning to use Unreal Engine in its future feature-length animation projects. This won't be Epic Games' first attempt at creating movies and TV shows with this engine, as Unreal Engine has already been used to create The Mandalorian and Boba Fett's Book.

PJ Gansagar, another co-founder of Spire Animation Studios, stated that the partnership will advance the meta-spread. Gansagar stated that this would allow viewers to authentically interact with the characters in the film, the TV show, and the world in the metaverse. The first project to be released as a result of the partnership will be the animated feature film Trouble. It will be produced in association with Danny McBride's Rough House Pictures.

The company appears to be betting on more than one industry as the number of Epic Games Store users will soon approach 200 million. The company brought in over 34 million new users last year. The constant giveaways of free games on the platform are very attractive to many, since the main competitor of the Epic Games Store, Steam, almost never offers games for free.

Epic Games is not the only company looking to make a splash in the movie industry. Sony plans to turn some Bungie game franchises into movies. Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki confirmed Sony's interest in possibly turning Bungie's IP like Destiny into movie franchises.

A source: HollywoodReporter