CARY – Epic Games has fought aggressively against cheating in its globally popular Fortnite game, including suing alleged perpetrators including a 14-year-old. Now the Cary-based company is stepping up the defense of its cash cow by acquiring a Finland-based company that develops anti-cheating software.
Epic’s CEO Tim Sweeney says the deal for Kamu is intended to keep Fortnite “fair for all players.”
Financial terms weren’t disclosed in the deal that was announced Monday. Kamu, a five-year-old company based in Helsinki, already was an Epic partner. It is best known for “Easy Anti-Cheat.”
Kamu says its software is used by more than 100 million players. It will continue to make software available to users beyond Fortnite and Epic.
“Building and launching games today is incredibly challenging, and only half the battle,” Sweeney said in a statement. “Kamu’s tools for managing live games help developers grow and sustain their games successfully after launch.”
Fortnite has more than 125 million players and has become so appealing that it has been cited as a reason for some divorces. It’s also very popular with a growing number of professional athletes.
The game, which can be played for free, has produced more than $1 billion dollars for Epic through sales of online accessories for players since launch in September 2017, according to various media reports.
The scale of revenue has been so great, in fact, that Bloomberg news calculates Epic has become a multi-billion-dollar company in value.
Although privately held, Epic has sold a substantial interest in the firm to China-based Tencent.
