Epic spent some of that Fortnite cash on an actual mega mall

The floorplan for Cary Towne Mall. — (Image credit: Cary Towne Center)

Epic Games has announced it's buying an enormous mall to convert into the company's new campus. The Cary Towne Center complex is 980,000 square-feet and 87-acres, and if you want to visualise that scale then think of 50 football fields. The plan is to completely redevelop the site, with work beginning this year and scheduled for completion in 2024, "allowing Epic the flexibility to create a campus customized from the ground-up to accommodate its long-term growth."

Epic has been based in Cary, North Carolina for over two decades, has extensive links to the area's educational institutions, and this decision commits the company's long-term future to the region. "We're extremely proud that Epic has chosen to call Cary home for their new global headquarters, and we greatly appreciate the company's recognition of Cary's existing assets as well as the unlimited potential of the area for their growing business," said Cary's mayor Harold Weinbrecht. "We look forward to continuing to work closely and collaboratively with the Epic team as they conceptualize their new campus, and we're honored to partner with them on this exciting new development."

The mall is being acquired from real estate firm Turnbridge Equities and Denali Properties, which took it over in 2019. "Epic shares our vision for transforming Cary Towne Center into a vibrant community space," said Jason Davis, MD at Turnbridge. "After years of shifting development plans for the Center, we are thrilled the space will be utilized to its full potential and turned into something the Town and community of Cary can be proud of."

No further details of Epic's redevelopment plans for the site were given, though the purchase price is listed as $95 million dollars. Not that Epic's short of money: it's obviously easy to draw a direct line to Fortnite's success here, a game that's attracted over 350 million players, though the Unreal Engine will always be the company's golden goose. Amusingly enough Fortnite featured a mega mall in season nine, though in that case it was 'redeveloped' out of existence by a volcano.

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."