In a surprise move, Epic Games, the creator ofFortnite,has acquired Mediatonic, the company behind 2020’s breakout hitFall Guys: Ultimate Knockout. Epic broke the news of the acquisition with an official announcement this morning.

Mediatonic’s multiplayer party gameFall Guyshas been a runaway success since launching in August 2020. Inspired by shows likeWipeoutandTakeshi’s Castle,the battle royale-style title features costumed bean-like creatures that compete in a series of mini-games in an effort to win a crown. Currently late in its third season,Fall GuysSeason 4 will have a futuristic theme, aptly titled “Fall Guys4041.”

The officialFall GuysTwitter account shared the news with an official announcement of joining the Epic Games umbrella. Along with the tweet is a truly disturbing mashup featuring aFall Guysbean stretched toFortniteproportions to do the latter’s “dance moves” emote. In addition to revealing theFall Guysteam over quadrupling in size - 35 to 150 - Mediatonic promised that the gameplay players know and love “isn’t changing.” The post goes on to discuss how the acquisition will help the team bring many of the features already seen inFortniteandRocket League, which also fell under the Epic umbrella whenthe company acquired developer Psyonixback in 2019.

Some of the features listed include account systems, cross-play, squad modes, and more. Mediatonic does mention that the game will remain on Steam and PlayStation, although it had a curiosity-piquing nothing to announce “right now.” In regards to why Mediatonic chose Epic, the statement says the two companies have been “mutual fans” for a while, and share a lot of the same goals. In what could be seen as intelligent foresight as to avoidthe review bombingRocket Leaguetookwhen it was acquired by Epic, the Mediatonicteam assures players that it’ll continue as the same team, “working on the same game” except now with the capacity gained through Epic to elevate the game higher than ever.

Epic did makeRocket Leaguefree to play after acquiring the title, so there’s reason to believeFall Guyswill follow suit. However, doing so will likely cause an issue with those who previously shelled out money for the game.Fall Guyswas also recently confirmed for Xboxalong with the Nintendo Switch, so gaining a developer giant’s infrastructure plays to its' advantage.

Epic Games' acquisition ofFall Guysis a massive development, making Epic Games even more dominant a force in the gaming sphere. It’ll be interesting to see what it does with the IP in the months ahead.

Fall Guysis out now on PC and PlayStation 4, with Switch and Xbox versions slated to launch this summer.