Epic Games has acquired AQUIRIS the developers behind Horizon Chase and Wonderbox. Epic invested in AQUIRIS, April of last year instead of simply buying it outright. As of today however, AQUIRIS has been fully acquired by Epic. The Brasil based studio is now renamed to Epic Games Brasil, and they’ve already been at work on content for Epic’s Fortnite.
In a blog post directly from Epic Games’ website Mauricio Longoni, CEO of AQUIRIS, will now work as studio director for Epic Games. “Joining Epic Games builds on our successes in creating memorable games including Wonderbox, Horizon Chase 2 and Looney Tunes World of Mayhem, which we will continue to operate. We are delighted to leverage our experience using Unreal Engine on game development to contribute to the future of Fortnite.” Longoni said.
Epic Games also highlighted that the acquisition brings in broader abilities from those in Latin America, as Alain Tascan, Executive Vice President of Game Development at Epic Games stated, “With the creation of Epic Games Brasil, we look forward to tapping into the immense talent the region has to offer and establishing our presence in Latin America.”
AQUIRIS was founded in 2007, based in Porto Alegre, Brasil, they’re best known for their Horizon Chase franchise. They also developed Wonderbox: The Adventure Maker which released exclusively on Apple Arcade. As well as free-to-play Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem mobile title.
Epic Games has grown massively in the past 5 or so years, thanks in part to Fortnite alone. The money maker that is and continues to be Fortnite grows larger with each successive studio Epic has bought. In November 2021 Epic bought Harmonix, known for the Rock Band franchise, to support Fortnite’s musical experiences within their games. Epic has also touted the new experiences coming to Fortnite for developers to experiment with.