Fortnite developer Epic acquires RAD Game Tools

Fortnite developer Epic Games has acquired RAD Game Tools, a video game software development company whose products and technology appear in nearly 25,000 games, for an undisclosed sum.

The RAD game tools are leveraged by the world’s leading gaming companies, including Epic.

Epic said on Thursday that they plan to integrate RAD’s powerful technology into its real-time 3D creation platform ‘Unreal Engine’ to benefit the developer community and gamers alike.

RAD will continue supporting their game industry, film, and television partners, with their sales and business development team maintaining and selling licenses for their products to companies across industries including those that do not utilise Unreal Engine.

“We know first-hand how impressive RAD’s compression technology is, having used it to improve the load time and quality of our most popular games including Fortnite,” said Kim Libreri, CTO of Epic Games.

Epic Games is locked in a legal battle since August last year with Apple over the removal of its popular game Fortnite from App Store.

The company said that members of the RAD team will partner closely with Epic’s rendering, animation, insights, and audio teams, integrating key tech and improvements across Unreal Engine and beyond.

“Our work with Epic goes back decades, and joining forces is a natural next step given our alignment on products, mission, and culture,” said Jeff Roberts, Founder and CEO of RAD Game Tools.