Epic Games has permanently embraced another studio in its money embrace, this time acquiring Horizon Chase Turbo developer Aquiris to work on Fortnite.
Brazil-based Aquiris was founded in 2007 and went on to develop the well-received Wonderbox: The Adventure Maker and Looney Tunes World of Mayhem for mobile, as well as its retro-inspired arcade racer Horizon Chase, which released in 2015. was issued in
A greatly expanded – and critically acclaimed – follow-up, Horizon Chase Turbo, arrived in 2018, whisking the series from mobile to PC and console, and Aquiris launched Horizon Chase 2, the third entry in the series, on Apple Arcade. end of last year.
Aquiris first linked arms with Epic in early 2022, when the Fortnite maker invested an undisclosed amount in the studio and signed a publishing deal to produce multiple games. And now, Epic has announced that it has acquired Aquaris for an undisclosed sum, renaming it Epic Games Brasil — the company’s first Latin America studio.
Unfortunately, it looks like Epic’s previous multi-game aspirations for Aquiris are no more, with today’s announcement the studio will now “leverage” [its] The experience of using Unreal Engine on game development to contribute to the future of Fortnite”.
It sounds like a deal similar to Epic’s purchase of Rock Band developer Harmonix in 2021, which – despite its legacy of making genre-defining music titles – hired to create vague “musical journeys and gameplay” for Fortnite after its acquisition I went.
“We’ve seen firsthand the impressive talents of the Aquiris team at creating innovative games that have global appeal,” Epic’s Ellen Tusken said in a statement accompanying today’s news. “With the creation of Epic Games Brasil, we look forward to tapping into the immense talent that is coming our way and establishing our presence in Latin America.”