The Fortnite singularity
Last year, Epic Games made a big investment in Aquiris, the Brazilian developer of Horizon Chase Turbo. Today, they have announced that they’ve followed through, acquired the studio, and rebranded it as Epic Brasil. That would be fine, but the developer is now mostly working on Fortnite content.
It feels like the entire industry is on a slow collapse into a Fortnite singularity. Not, like, actually, but it’s an amusing and horrifying thought.
Beyond the Horizon Chase series, Aquiris has been largely a mobile developer. Some of their more notable titles include Wonderbox and Looney Tunes World of Mayhem. Last year, they released Horizon Chase 2 on mobile platforms, with PC and console ports planned for this year.
An additional Fortnite support studio is only one function of the new Epic Brasil. They also state that this is to establish a presence in South America and “spotlight” the region’s developers.
“With the creation of Epic Games Brasil, we look forward to tapping into the immense talent the region has to offer and establishing our presence in Latin America,” said Alain Tascan, Executive Vice President of Game Development at Epic Games in the press release.
In the interim, Epic Brasil will still continue to work on supporting the titles it did as Aquiris. However, the press release is pretty clear, saying, “the AQUIRIS team of developers will join Epic Games to create groundbreaking content and social experiences within Fortnite.” There is no word on whether or not this will affect the PC and console port of Horizon Chase 2.
