Epic Games, the maker of the popular Fortnite video game, is reportedly close to raising an additional $750 million from investors _ a total that would put its valuation at $17 billion.
That total and valuation _ reported by Bloomberg News and Venture Beat _ would come as worldwide video game spending breaks records during the coronavirus pandemic, with millions of people spending more time at home. Video game spending hit $10.5 billion in April, a record-breaking number that was 17% higher than April 2019, SuperData Research reported.
The lock down also reinvigorated player spending on Fortnite, which had been dropping in the months prior to the pandemic. SuperData said earnings on Fornite reached their highest total since May 2019.
Fortnite was the highest-earning video game in 2019, bringing in $1.8 billion, The News & Observer previously reported.
Beyond Fortnite, Epic has also found success with its graphics tool Unreal Engine, which it licenses to other companies, film creators and designers. Houseparty, the video chat app it bought last year, has also seen a sudden increase in usage thanks to the pandemic. In March, the app saw a surge of 50 million downloads, Techcrunch reported.
Bloomberg reported that new investors in Fortnite included T. Rowe Price and investment firm Baillie Gifford. A previous investor, KKR, is also reportedly joining the new round of funding.
Epic Games declined to comment about the potential funding. Representatives for T. Rowe Price, Baillie Gifford and KKR also declined to comment.
The potential funding comes nearly two years after Epic raised more than $1 billion from investors, giving it a valuation in 2018 of $15 billion. That round was led by investment firms KKR, ICONIQ Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Other investors in Epic include Walt Disney and Chinese tech giant Tencent.
If the deal goes through it would be the largest investment raise in North Carolina this year by far. The company's 2018 raise was the largest in the entire country for that year.
Founded in 1991 by Tim Sweeney, Epic has grown rapidly since the release of Fortnite in 2017. The video game company is expanding its headquarters in Cary to make room for up to an additional 2,000 employees.
