Yesterday, Epic Games announced the acquisition of the game development studio AQUIRIS, following an earlier investment and publishing deal signed with the company last year.

　　AQUIRIS, the first Latin American studio owned by Epic, will be renamed Epic Games Brasil. Founded in 2007, the studio headquartered in Porto Alegre, Brazil, has made itself known with the arcade racing Horizon Chase series as well as Wonderbox: The Adventure Maker.

　　Their latest game, Horizon Chase 2, launched in late 2022 on the Apple Arcade platform, and it is expected to be released this year on PC and consoles, too.

　　Unfortunately, according to the press release, it sounds like AQUIRIS will be put on Fortnite duty going forward. More specifically, they will focus on creating 'groundbreaking content and social experiences' within Epic Games' ever-growing metaverse experiment.

　　Recently, Epic also doubled down on Fortnite with the release of the Unreal Editor, which allows modders and map makers to create far more complex content with a dedicated PC application, greatly expanding what was previously possible with the game's Creative Mode.

　　Their creations will be monetized, leading to comparisons with Roblox, though Epic Games EVP Saxs Persson explained how the company is trying to ensure the whole process is smoother in Fortnite.

　　We're taking a different approach. One is: our creators can't directly monetise. They are paid based on the quality of engagement that they made. So there's no incentive to sell golden swords that gate progression. So you kind of rule out a whole category of things that we don't think is good for the ecosystem at any stage, and in particular now at this stage.

　　Following the incredible success of Fortnite, Epic Games has acquired many companies, though some of them, such as 3Lateral, Quixel, RAD Game Tools, Sketchfab, and Bandcamp, were purchased because they could bolster the Unreal Engine's toolset. When it comes to game development companies, the acquisition list includes Psyonix (Rocket League), Harmonix (Guitar Hero, Rock Band), Mediatonic (Fall Guys), and now AQUIRIS.