Epic wants the Fortnite-Disney Metaverse to be "what every Disney fan ever wanted," but don't look for Mickey Mouse to pick up a assault rifle.

In an interview with The Verge Saxs Persson, executive vice president of Epic Games, explained what we can (and cannot) expect from their partnership with Disney in order to create a persistent world for the media giant which will also be connected with Fortnite.

Persson told The Verge that Disney wants to have a place where everything Disney can be found, but also be a part of the ecosystem we've created. "We believe that the power of ecosystems working together is the real magic here." From a player's perspective, you would like to be able flow between a Fortnite, Disney, or any other experience.

Persson said that he wanted players to be able "to enter this ecosystem through the Disney front doors or the Fortnite Front Doors," indicating a high level of compatibility. It's not yet clear what Disneynite will be, but Epic has already shown its ability to create a sub-game under Fortnite's umbrella. Lego Fortnite is a surprisingly complex survival game that appears to have been a huge success.

Epic's focus on "interoperability", with Fortnite will have limitations: "Not every outfit can do everything." Presson clarified that a Lego minifig cannot hold a weapon. "Brands must be able enforce their brand guidelines in the extent that they are comfortable with the brand being associated with certain ratings."

Some IPs are not mature IPs or teen IPs. They are E for Everyone IPs."

Presson, despite this limitation, is still optimistic about the project. He describes it as "one those partnerships that one can only hope for" and that both companies are "all in" to create what every Disney fan ever wanted.

As for what I'd like, Epic's plans with Fortnite and Unreal Engine make me ick. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has made his ambitions for the games industry clear: He wants the Unreal Engine to be a unifying force, connecting all games using it in a single, interoperable, metaverse-marketplace thing buttressed by Fortnite and mega money efforts like the Disney "persistent world."

This is not the vision of videogames that I want to see. A brand-apocalypse amusement park digital, Fortnite's bizarre digital concerts, real-money digital action figures and disrespectful historic commemorations becomevideogames, much like how Google made itself into another internet on the internet. I don't believe this will happen, but I am concerned because Epic is at the center of an industry consolidation that is not traditional.

Unreal Engine is ubiquitous but more and more developers are switching to middleware. Microsoft and Embracer, with their pandemic spending sprees, tied the futures of dozens studios to themselves. Many developers large and small are now dependent on Epic's technology. It makes me nervous to see Epic's goal of a videogame future defined by homogenizing the interoperability. The output of this Unreal Future is heavily influenced by corporate ideas of brand identity and family friendly.

There's a Steam Workshop project that will let you be Mickey Mouse with a Gun in Garry's Mod.