Epic Games on Tuesday announced that it has acquired Tonic Games Group, the parent company of the hit battle royale platformer “Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout” studio Mediatonic.
“It’s no secret that Epic is invested in building the metaverse and Tonic Games shares this goal,” Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said in a statement. “As Epic works to build this virtual future, we need great creative talent who know how to build powerful games, content and experiences.”
Epic in the announcement said that the future of Fall Guys will not be affected by the acquisition and the company will continue to invest in making the game a great experience for players across platforms. The game will continue to remain purchasable on Steam and PlayStation, and will soon be available on Nintendo Switch and Xbox.
Describing the move as a “huge win for Fall Guys”, Mediatonic in a separate blog post on its website claimed that joining Epic will accelerate the company’s plans to improve the game and bring Fall Guys to as many players as possible while continuing to support the community.
HUGE NEWS!@Mediatonic are pleased to announce that we've joined the @EpicGames family!
What does this mean? I'm glad you asked!
FAQ:https://t.co/QpiEHemUca pic.twitter.com/ZcGaoooljz
— Fall Guys 4041 ? SOON (@FallGuysGame) March 2, 2021
“At Tonic Games Group we often say that ‘everyone deserves a game that feels like it was made for them.’ With Epic, we feel like we have found a home that was made for us. They share our mission to build and support games that have a positive impact, empower others and stand the test of time and we couldn’t be more excited to be joining forces with their team,” said Dave Bailey, Tonic Games Group co-founder and CEO, in a statement.
“Beyond the shared vision among our teams, we see tremendous potential in combining forces with Epic. Whether it’s about making our own games the best they can be or empowering other game developers to take their content from a kernel of an idea to commercial success, we know that together we will be able to reach greater heights,” added Paul Croft, Tonic Games Group, Co-Founder and Chief Games Officer.
Mediatonic hopes to bring some of the features available in Fortnite and Rocket League such as account systems, cross-play, squad vs squad modes, etc. over to Fall Guys. The developer also added that it has “nothing to announce right now” on whether the game will switch from premium pricing to free-to-play like other Epic Games titles.
