Mario Bautista
Jodie Anderson joined Epic Games as head of marketing for the Unreal Engine in August 2017. She oversaw marketing for Fortnite’s Unreal Editor, which allows users (and brands) to publish their Unreal Engine creations inside the game’s creative mode.
Epic Games’ best marketing for Unreal Engine is often what its users create with it. In February, War is Over, an animated short film created by director Dave Mullins, won an Oscar. In May, Amazon used Unreal Engine and immersive production platform Magnopus to produce its hit series, Fallout. In June, electric carmaker Rivian partnered with Unreal Engine to personalize its vehicle entertainment systems.
Epic has also had success leveraging entertainment IP — a strategy it continued to pursue last year. In March, at its annual State of Unreal keynote address at the Game Developer Conference, Epic previewed Unreal Engine 5.4, with improvements in visual fidelity and animation, and brought it to life for audiences with an exclusive sneak peek at its new game in partnership with Skydance Studios, Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, set to release in 2025.
In December, Epic and Lego launched Lego Fortnite, a new game mode centered on survival and building structures, similar to Minecraft. Anderson took that partnership to creators and developers in March, bringing Lego elements to Fortnite Creative and Unreal Engine for Fortnite.
In February, Epic’s ability to tap into IP got much broader when Disney announced a partnership with the developer that would culminate in an in-game universe full of Disney characters and storylines, as the media giant invests $1.5 billion in the game developer.
Epic continued to engage its community around the Unreal Engine this year with Unreal Fest, bringing together creators and developers to network and learn.
