Sony and Epic Games have been friends for a while, according to a long and storied history of their friendship first disclosed in a four-paragraph press release published earlier today.
As of today, however, they are officially super best friends, courtesy of Sony investing a quarter billion dollars into Epic, because that’s just what good friends do, they give each other vast amounts of the best currency ever created. And they don’t expect anything in return, which may be why Sony’s investment is only netting it a 1.4% stake in the creators of Fortnite and Unreal Engine.
Cynics would say that’s a meager percentage, but those who understand the value of true friendship see it for what it is: a symbolic figure. Symbolic of how desperate Sony is to get some heavy hitters behind its back while Microsoft on a multi-seasonal M&A rampage across the entire gaming industry, buying everything that moves and some things that don’t. The latter of which include Double Fine Productions Chief Tim Schafer‘s insistence on crowdfunding everything from his new game to parking tickets.
Yes, the absolute madmen ad Redmond paid for Schafer’s parking tickets, some of which have even expired…. in 2017! It’s no wonder Sony is absolutely losing it as we’re moving closer to the launch of the next-generation gaming consoles. Especially if the recent rumors about the significant advantage in processing power the Xbox Series X has over the PS5 are true. Cue sad teraflops noises.