Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has responded to recent reports suggesting frustration within Epic over Disney’s decision-making pace for Fortnite collaborations. Sweeney called the anonymous quote cited in the Wall Street Journal article “BS” and praised the speed of their joint projects.
Epic and Disney have a long history of working together, including contributions from Epic’s Unreal Engine technology in Disney theme park rides and Star Wars films. Fortnite has hosted several Disney-themed events, like the Marvel Nexus War, which drew over 15 million players at once.
In early 2024, Disney invested $1.5 billion in Epic Games, deepening their partnership. Together, they plan to build a new gaming and entertainment universe connected to Fortnite, featuring characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar, and more.
Sweeney mentioned on X that the collaboration speed with Disney is about ten times faster than typical media company deals. He also noted that Epic provided a statement to the WSJ to explain this, but it was not included in the article.
The anonymous quote is BS. The speed of Disney and Epic collaborations like Darth Vader has been awesome and is around 10x the ordinary speed of media company dealings in this business. We even provided a statement to the writer of this article saying so, but they chose not to…
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) August 4, 2025
There are rumors that this Fortnite Disney universe, internally called ‘Bulldog,’ has reached a stable build stage and is expected to launch no earlier than fall 2026. The project is overseen by Josh D’Amaro, head of Disney’s parks and resorts, who might soon become Disney’s next CEO.
It’s impressive to see such a large-scale collaboration moving forward without the usual delays people expect. How often do you hear about a media giant and a game developer working at this pace? It challenges some of the typical assumptions about corporate red tape. What do you think this means for Fortnite’s future? Could this new universe change how we see cross-media experiences?
