Bloomberg reports Epic has a separate extraction shooter in development built around Disney characters — and it positions them directly against Marathon.
A Bloomberg report revealed that Epic Games is in development on an all-new extraction shooter built around Disney characters — completely separate from Fortnite. The reported project positions Epic squarely against the likes of Bungie's Marathon and the indie darling Arc Raiders in what has become the most hotly contested genre in live-service gaming. The difference is that neither Marathon nor Arc Raiders is arriving with a century of IP behind it. Disney is.
Details remain thin. There's no release window, no confirmed character roster, no official announcement from Epic, and no trailer. What Bloomberg's sources describe is a project still in active development rather than imminent announcement. But Bloomberg's track record on gaming exclusives — they broke the Activision acquisition before Microsoft confirmed it, and called the Fallout TV show months before Amazon announced it — means this one demands serious attention.
The strategic logic is easy to read. Fortnite's player count has been declining relative to its 2018-2020 peak, and Epic has been pouring resources into Chapter 5 and creative mode expansions to maintain engagement. A second major live-service title would diversify Epic's revenue and reduce their existential dependence on a single game that's been operating for nearly a decade. Building that second title around Disney IP is about as safe a bet as the industry offers.
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The extraction shooter genre is a fascinating place for Disney to plant a flag. Extraction shooters — games where you enter a high-risk zone, collect loot, and have to escape without dying — have proven they can sustain enormous player bases when executed well. Escape from Tarkov built a cult following. Hunt: Showdown has thrived for years. The genre rewards both casual and hardcore players differently, which is valuable for a publisher trying to serve Disney's broad audience.
The question no one can answer yet is which Disney IP fills the roster. The possibilities are genuinely wild. Marvel characters are the obvious commercial draw, but Disney also owns Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Muppets, Pixar, and every classic animation character from Mickey to Moana. A cross-IP extraction shooter where Iron Man squads up with Mandalorian players against Pixar villain bosses would be either a stroke of genius or a tonal catastrophe. Possibly both.
Disney's willingness to experiment with gaming has accelerated visibly in recent years. The Fortnite Disney Island chapter was a massive commercial success. The upcoming Indiana Jones expansion in other titles shows they're comfortable with non-traditional licensing. Hiring a studio of Epic's caliber — the people who built Unreal Engine — to develop a dedicated title represents a level of gaming investment Disney hasn't made since their internal studio days.
There's no timeline, no platform confirmation, and no official acknowledgment that this project exists. But if Bloomberg is right — and their gaming scoops usually are — this could be one of the most consequential live-service game announcements of the decade when it finally surfaces. Keep watching.
