Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney has refuted claims an “anonymous source” at the company told press they were frustrated by the speed of decision-making whilst working with Disney.
Unnamed “executives” from Epic Games reportedly complained to the Wall Street Journal of “the slow pace of the decision-making at Disney,” not least because signoffs are needed across numerous departments and divisions.
The specific example provided concerned Fortnite’s AI Darth Vader, which interacted with around 10 million players during Vader’s limited deployment in the battle royale.
Sweeney, however, calls the story “BS.” Writing on X/Twitter, he said: “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 print it.”
The Walt Disney Company invested $1.5 billion to acquire an equity stake in Epic Games in February 2024, announcing plans for a major collaboration with Fortnite. Disney and Epic described the project as a “open, persistent, social universe” that give fans the chance to “watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories” from across Disney’s portfolio, including Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, and Avatar brands.