Epic Games Acquires ‘Fall Guys’ Studio Mediatonic

“Fortnite” creator Epic Games has acquired Tonic Games Group, the parent company of “Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout” studio Mediatonic, the companies announced on Tuesday.

The companies did not disclose numbers behind the deal. A blog post on Mediatonic’s website, however, confirmed that the game will remain purchasable on Steam and PlayStation, and the previously announced plans to bring “Fall Guys” to Nintendo Switch and Xbox are still moving forward.

Mediatonic also said there are no plans to make “Fall Guys,” which costs $19.99, free-to-play, as was the case with “Rocket League.”

“At Tonic Games Group we often say that ‘everyone deserves a game that feels like it was made for them,'” said Dave Bailey, Tonic Games Group co-founder and CEO, in a statement. “With Epic, we feel like we have found a home that was made for us. They share our mission to build and support games that have a positive impact, empower others and stand the test of time and we couldn’t be more excited to be joining forces with their team.”

“Beyond the shared vision among our teams, we see tremendous potential in combining forces with Epic,” added Paul Croft, Tonic Games Group co-founder and chief games officer. “Whether it’s about making our own games the best they can be or empowering other game developers to take their content from a kernel of an idea to commercial success, we know that together we will be able to reach greater heights.”

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

In its Tuesday blog post, Mediatonic called the deal a “huge win” for the studio. It revealed that, since “Fall Guys” became a sensation last year, it has already grown its team from 35 employees to more than 150. “Yet,” it added, “there is so much more we want to build for our players.”

The blog post noted that there are several features in Epic Games’ “Fortnite” and “Rocket League” that it would like to incorporation into “Fall Guys,” including account systems and cross-play.

“Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout” debuted on PlayStation and PC last August and, along with “Among Us,” became a runaway indie hit, especially as streamers took to its colorful and haphazard gameplay during the pandemic. It went on to become the most-downloaded PlayStation Plus game of all time.

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