Fortnite maker Epic Games to raise around $1.7 billion in next round of funding

Epic Games Inc., known to the world as the maker of the hugely popular game Fortnite, is planning to raise another round of funding. Reports indicate that the company is in the final stages of raising as much as $1.7 billion for the round.

The funding, if locked on, will value the company at a whopping $28 billion, a report by Bloomberg states, citing people close to the matter. At present, the company has already ensured a commitment of more than $1 billion, the report indicates.

The enormous capital will be provided by the firm's existing investors and some mutual funds. Some of these backers of the firm that are also interested in the next round are Fidelity Investments, Franklin Templeton and T. Rowe Price Group Inc.

The talks are currently being held privately, and the final amount has not been set as of now.

As and when finalised, the funding will surpass Epic Games' last year's fundraising that saw the company raise $1.78 billion at a valuation of $17.3 billion. Through the investment, the gaming major acquired some startups, including the maker of Fall Guys.

Epic Games is not a new entity in the global gaming scenario. The company has been in existence since 1991 when Tim Sweeney founded it as Potomac Computer Systems. The North Carolina, US-based gaming firm has seen an enormous rise in its value since the past couple of years, mainly due to blockbuster gaming title Fortnite.

The fundraising will certainly help Epic Games pursue their next titles while also evolving the existing ones. However, a substantial amount might be tied in courtroom battles as the company faces Apple in a lawsuit over allegations of anticompetitive behaviour.

Epic had earlier challenged Apple for charging game developers a considerable portion of their earnings in order to list their games on Apple's App Store. That is when the company took Fortnite off the app stores of both iOS and Android and, in a dramatic attack, called out Apple publicly for the practice through a dedicated Fortnite video.