Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney fires salvo on X over WSJ's refusal to 'print' denial about Fortnite x Disney delay rumors

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has fired back at a recent Wall Street Journal report, which alleged that Fortnite’s upcoming Disney project, codenamed “Project Bulldog,” has been marred by delays due to slow decision-making at Disney.

The Wall Street Journal article, published on August 3, 2025, stated that anonymous sources claimed Disney’s expansive Fortnite collaboration had been delayed to 2026 because of “the slow pace of decision-making at Disney, with sign-offs needed from so many divisions.”

Sweeney promptly took to X on August 4 and fired back at WSJ, stating:

“The anonymous quote is BS. The speed of Disney and Epic collaborations like Darth Vader has been awesome and is around 10x the ordinary speed of media company dealings in the business. We even provided a statement to the writer of this article saying so, but they chose not to print it.”

Fortnite x Disney or Project Bulldog was announced in February 2024 as a collaborative project between Epic Games and Disney, backed by Disney’s $1.5 billion investment in Epic. Fortnite will introduce a Disneyland-esque mode. The scope of the project and what’s to be expected in the upcoming content drop is still unclear.

The project is being spearheaded by Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Josh D’Amaro and is slated for a fall 2026 launch, a window that Sweeney did not deny in his statement on X. From prior collaborative projects, as seen with Square Enix on Kingdom Hearts, Disney is, indeed, protective of its characters’ portrayal and IPs. 

Furthermore, Disney is taking a hands-on approach with the project as D’Amaro reportedly visited Epic’s North Carolina Headquarters a month ago.

However, Sweeney’s statement does bear weight in this context, considering the staggering number of character skins, emotes, and items crossing over from the Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar franchises over to Fortnite.

For example, The Fantastic Four: First Steps Premiere on July 25, 2025,  was subsequently followed by Epic’s release of Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm, The Thing, and tie-in items like a glider, back blings, and emotes the very same day.

Fortnite is by far one of the most active battle royale platforms currently act, boasting a 24-hour peak of 1,598,655 concurrent players, and an all-time peak of 14,343,880 users across all platforms at the time of writing.