When did Epic Games buy Fall Guys, and why?

With Fall Guys finally going free-to-play and making its way onto the Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and other platforms earlier in the week, fans have been having a great time booting the title on their systems.

According to the game’s official social media account, going free has already started paying off for the developers, Mediatonic, and it has managed to hit 20 million active users in just 48 hours.

The results have been unprecedented, and Falls Guys is seeing much more success now than it did at its initial launch in August 2020. This amount of popularity amongst the player base has raised lots of questions amongst fans concerning the acquisition of the Tonic Games Group by Epic Games, which took place on March 2, 2022.

Many in the community are asking why the acquisition occurred, and today’s article will discuss that.

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Epic Games acquired Fall Guys’ parent company to boost the battle royale title further

As mentioned, Epic acquired Tonic Games Group, the company that owns Mediatonic Games, the creators of Fall Guys, all the way back in March 2021. At that point, the title had sold over 7 million copies on Steam and was an instant success across PCs and the PlayStation.

While Epic did not officially share the acquisition amount, the investment meant that the organization was willing to continue the development of the battle royale game, where players get to play as a jelly bean fumbling through obstacle courses.

At the time of the buyout, Mediatonic had mentioned on its website that the deal would not affect gameplay in any way, and the studio would love to bring features from both Fortnite and Rocket League into Fall Guys. Some of these features will include squad modes, cross-play, and account systems.

Cross-play is already live in the free-to-play version. It seems Mediatonic is living up to some community expectations that arose after the Epic deal.

When talking about the Fall Guys acquisition, many in the community have pointed out that Epic is essentially trying to become the equivalent of a digital theme park. They will look to develop a catalog of content that will play host to “fun online gameplay.”

Many believe the move has helped Epic continue to create its own vision of the metaverse, something that Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Tonic Games Group, shared. In a news release following the acquisition, he stated:

“It’s no secret that Epic is invested in building the metaverse, and Tonic Games shares this goal. As Epic works to build this virtual future, we need great creative talent who knows how to build powerful games, content, and experiences.”

Epic’s creation of their own metaverse is all about creating a portfolio of first-party games that will be platforms in their own right. This will mean that the company, with its latest string of acquisitions, including Fall Guys, is cementing itself as a true entertainment organization that can attract and retain large audiences instead of just being any other video game company.