Epic Games buys Harmonix to create 'musical journeys' in 'Fortnite'

Epic Games has acquired Harmonix, the studio behind titles like Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Dance Central and more recently Fuser. Financial terms have not been disclosed. Epic’s vision for Harmonix involves the metaverse. In the immediate future, the two plan to create “musical journeys and gameplay for Fortnite.”

Viewed through that lens, Epic’s interest in the studio makes a lot of sense. Outside of frequent brand collaborations, Fortnite is at this point best known for its virtual concerts. In the last two years, a handful of major artists like Ariana Grande and Travis Scott have drawn a lot of interest to the game. In the latter case, for example, more than 12.3 people watched Scott’s performance concurrently.

In the meantime, Harmonix says it will continue to support its existing slate of games. That means Rock Band players can continue to look forward to new DLC and Fuser players can expect the studio to continue hosting events. Additionally, any game that's currently available through Steam will continue to be sold through Valve's storefront.