Epic Games, the publisher of the popular game Fornite, recently announced the signing of a "final agreement" that seals the acquisition of independent game development studio Psyonix, based in San Diego, and its 132 employees.
For those unfamiliar with Psyonix, you should know that this is a video game development studio that has produced the very popular soccer game "Rocket League", as well as Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars and Monster Madness: Grave Danger in 2008, and continued with other projects including contract work for several big-budget titles.
Epic Games and Psyonix have a long-standing relationship, dating back to Psyonix's founding in 2001 in Raleigh, North Carolina, not far from Epic headquarters.
Over the years, Epic has worked with Psyonix to improve its Unreal Engine and Psyonix game development toolset. It has been fundamental in the creation of video games based on Unreal like Unreal Tournament 2004, Gears of War, Bulletstorm or Mass Effect 3.
"Psyonix has always been part of the Epic family, and we are pleased to formalize it," said Tim Sweeney, Epic CEO, adding, "We have a lot of respect for how Psyonix has built a great team and an incredible community around Rocket League." .
In 2015, the studio released Rocket League, an evolution of their 2008 Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars game, which was a worldwide hit. The game now has more than 57 million registered players and has sold millions of copies.
As well has become an esport (electronic sport) popular with its series of championships and matches broadcast live on television and on streaming platforms.
As well it should be noted that Psyonix and Epic Games are among the few game publishers to pleaded with Sony to end its policy of blocking account transfer and cross-platform gaming between the PS4 and competing consoles.
The Japanese finally relented and Psyonix brought the cross-platform support of Rocket League to the PS4 in January of this year.
Following this agreement, Psyonix has announced that it will have more resources to support the Rocket League esports league. and that the PC version of the Rocket League will be transferred to the Epic play store in late 2019.
After this date, Rocket League may no longer be available in Valve's competitor store, although buyers of the Steam version of the game can continue to play their existing copy indefinitely and receive support, downloadable content, patches and more.
The Psyonix studio has also assured that it will continue to sell and support Rocket League on other platforms, including PlayStation, Xbox and Switch.
As Psyonix noted in a blog post, "in the short term, nothing will change."
And the study says through its founder Dave Hagewood:
“We have been working closely with Epic since the beginning of Unreal Tournament, and we have survived the turn of the tide as partners. The combination of forces therefore makes sense.
The acquisition of Psyonix is Epic's latest aggressive initiative, which is full of cash after the massive success of Fortnite.
Since the launch of the Epic Games Store at the end of 2018, a platform that guarantees developers 88% of the revenue generated from the sale of their game, the studio has worked to buy many prestigious exclusives to expand the catalog of its platform and to offer free games every two weeks to attract customers.
We truly believe that our future in sports is very exciting, especially in the near future, where on June 21 and 23 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, the final of the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS)
Epic continues to spend considerable funds to undermine Valve's dominance in PC game distribution.
This acquisition is expected to be finalized this month or next. month pending regulatory approval.