Epic Games’ metaverse bid now includes music game studio Harmonix, after an acquisition announcement yesterday.
Announced on its blog, Epic Games revealed it acquired Harmonix, the studio behind music games for both traditional and VR platforms. Some of the studio’s notable games include the Rock Band franchise (including Rock Band VR), VR rhythm game Audica and Oculus Quest launch title Dance Central.
And yes, the “metaverse” (the buzzword of the moment) even got a mention in the announcement post:
Harmonix has a track record of creating fun and engaging music experiences designed for everyone to enjoy. As we work to build the metaverse, this expertise is needed to reimagine how music is experienced, created and distributed.
Don’t get too excited just yet — we don’t know yet whether Harmonix will be working on content we’ll consume in a VR headset. Epic Games says the studio will “collaborate closely with Epic to develop musical journeys and gameplay for Fortnite.”
Harmonix also clarified on its own blog that it will continue to support existing older games while also confirming the focus on ‘musical journeys’ for Fortnite. “While we’re not ready to share any specifics, the whole team is incredibly excited to get started. Stay tuned!”
Epic Games is one of the biggest game companies in the world — it’s behind the Unreal Engine game development toolset and the aforementioned battle-royale-turned-IP-crossover shooter Fortnite.
Meta took the spotlight with its metaverse-focused Connect keynote last month but plenty of companies have talked up this potential of an embodied form of the Web. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney is one of the biggest proponents, recently stating that the metaverse could become a “multitrillion-dollar part of the world economy.”
